Added 4.25.19. In this 1986 episode, Milt and Rabbi Harold Kushner explore questions for The Ages stemming from Kushner’s then just-published book, “When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough: Living A Life That Matters.” It became a bestseller, and followed Kushner’s breakout 1981 bestseller, “When Bad Things Happen To Good People,” inspired partly by the death of Kushner’s son at 14 in 1977 from a progressive aging disease. Milt and Kushner probe how we can elevate virtue over despair, sidestep pursuit of false purposes, and be able approach the end of life with equanimity.

Added 4.18.19. Decorated Marine, Vietnam War rifle platoon leader, novelist, Yale grad and Rhodes Scholar Karl Marlantes discusses with Milt his non-fiction exploration, “What It’s Like To Go To War.” He begins by noting that “the overwhelming feeling of war is a combination of sadness at the deaths of friends and foes,” and of “exhilaration” about both survival the killing of one’s mortal enemies. It is, he says, quite a lot for a young man to experience, and then have to describe upon return home. Marlantes previously authored an acclaimed Vietnam novel, Matterhorn.

Added 4.11.19. Milt delves into sleep with two experts: James Herdegen and Kristen Knutson. At the time of the broadcast he was director of the Sleep Science Center at University of Illinois-Chicago, and she was a biomedical anthropologist and professor of medicine at University of Chicago. Together they explore the science of sleep, including questions such as: Do fish sleep? How is sleep measured? What are the causes and remedies of sleep disorders? And much more.

Added 4.2.19. Milt interview the father-daughter author team Marvin and Deborah Kalb on their then-new book, “Haunting Legacy: Vietnam And The American Presidency From Ford To Obama.” Together they unearth how, why and to what effect U.S. presidents in the years since the Vietnam War’s end, have  let our nation’s unsatisfying experience in that conflict shape subsequent military and foreign policy decision making. Deborah Kalb is a writer, editor, and author, and has written several books about politics and history for adults and children. Marvin Kalb was for three decades a noted correspondent for CBS and NBC television news, and later founded the Shorenstein Center of Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Added 3.25.19. Milt and New Testament scholars Barbara E. Reid and Klyne Snodgrass explore – as Milt puts it – “the real man Jesus, as he is knowable” with a focus on the “actual facts of the earthly career of Jesus” and its connection to the Christian faith. The starting point is an encomium to Jesus from none other than Napoleon, for founding an empire based on love rather than force. At the time of the broadcast, each guest was a a professor of New Testament Studies; Reid at the Catholic Theological Union, and Snodgrass at North Park College.