audio by artist mark lynch

Inquiry
BIRDS, BEASTS & BUREAUCRATS: A NATURALIST ON A CARIBBEAN ISLAND

HERBERT A. RAFFAELE has been engaged in wildlife conservation in the Caribbean for over 35 years and has authored two important field guides to the area. He also spent some time as a naturalist for the Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources and his new book BIRDS, BEASTS & BUREAUCRATS: A NATURALIST ON A CARIBBEAN ISLAND is his fascinating memoir of those years.

Inquiry
MARCO POLO: FROM VENICE TO XANADU

In 1271, a pampered teenager joined his father and uncle on one of the greatest adventures of all times.

Inquiry
NERDS: WHO THEY ARE AND WHY WE NEED MORE OF THEM

Those taped glasses and pocket protectors aren’t so funny after all! Can our culture’s stereotype of the “nerd” and “geek” actually be a harmful prejudice against intelligent children who are also just different?

Inquiry
PROUST WAS A NEUROSCIENTIST

 Writer, journalist and editor JONAH LEHRER has a new book about artists of the 19th Century whose works anticipated the discoveries of 20th Century science. Tonight on Inquiry we discuss how legendary French master chef Auguste Escoffier, inventor of veal stock and Peach Melba, discovered the chemistry of “deliciousness” and how novelist George Eliot got her heart broken and then wrote about the biology of freedom. Tune in for a discussion both lively and totally unexpected.

Inquiry
COLIN D. POLSKY and R. GIL PONTIUS JR- Groundwater in Massachussets

Atlanta, Georgia is facing critical water shortages, as are many major cities in the southwest. Think it can’t happen here? Massachusetts has plenty of rainfall in most years, yet lately many city reservoirs have been running critically low and there has been an increase in summer water bans. What is going on?

Inquiry
The Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will go on-line this summer. This gigantic particle accelerator, located in Switzerland, will be shooting protons to speeds up to 99.9999% the speed of light and then colliding them to discover the deepest secrets of matter and the universe.

Inquiry
Katherine Grier: Pets in America

 Inquiry welcomes back KATHERINE C. GRIER, professor of material culture studies, Winterthur Program in Early American Culture. Tonight we continue our discussion of Grier’s landmark book PETS IN AMERICA: A HISTORY, looking at how 19th Century religious and philosophical ideas of domesticity, kindness and gentility to people forever changed the way Americans looked at the dogs and cats that also lived in their homes.

Inquiry
Rachael Herz: Scent of Desire

How does our sense of smell affect our sex lives? Can an odor elicit long forgotten memories? Does a perfume affect a woman in the same way it affects a man? Did Michael Hutchence of the band INXS kill himself because he could no longer smell? Tune in tonight to Inquiry to find out!  We have a wild and thought-provoking conversation with RACHEL HERZ, Ph.D, a leading expert on the psychology of smell and author of THE SCENT OF DESIRE: DISCOVERING OUR ENIGMATIC SENSE OF SMELL.

Inquiry
VON BRAUN: DREAMER OF SPACE/ENGINEER OF WAR

Werner von Braun was one of the most complex and troubling figures of science and technology of the Twentieth Century. He was an important visionary architect of America’s space program.  He helped launch the first American satellite and headed NASA’s launch-vehicle development for the Apollo moon-landing. But von Braun was also a former Nazi, an SS officer who supervised the development of the V-2 rocket., an effort that required the use of masses of slave laborers working in horrific conditions.

Inquiry
HUGO GERNSBACK AND THE CENTURY OF SCIENCE FICTION

Inquiry speaks with teacher, writer, editor and science fiction scholar GARY WESTFAHL about the life and work of Hugo Gernsback. Though not a familiar name today, Gernsback was an important editor and critic of the 30s and 40s whose revolutionary ideas about what the tone and content of science fiction should be, helped define the genre as serious literature. Westfahl’s book is titled: HUGO GERNSBACK AND THE CENTURY OF SCIENCE FICTION.

Inquiry
OFF THE BEATEN TRAX SCORING

TOM PHILLIPS has spent 30 years composing and producing award-winning scores for network television. Tonight Inquiry talks with Tom about what makes an interesting score for film, who the great film composers were and the challenges of writing music for subjects as diverse as The Antiques Road Show and horseshoe crabs!

Inquiry
DIARY OF THE BLACK WIDOW

We talk with artist and writer BRET M. HERHOLZ about the appeal of comics, getting yourself published and about his new gothic comic series DIARY OF THE BLACK WIDOW. See: http://herbertzohl.webs.com/index.htm for some examples of Bret’s comics and art.

Inquiry
UNCANNY BODIES: THE COMING OF SOUND FILM AND THE ORIGINS OF THE HORROR GENRE.

Two films released in 1931 by Universal, Dracula and Frankenstein, forever changed the cinematic look and experience of horror in movies. Though these films may not seem very scary compared to today’s blood and gore spectacles, in their day these films terrified audiences around the globe. What was it that made these two films so chilling?

Inquiry
CHICK FLICK ROAD KILL: A BEHIND THE SCENES ODYSSEY INTO MOVIE-MADE AMERICA

ALICIA REBENSDORF was working in a dead end job with no relief in sight. So she decided to quit and take a classic American road trip. But this was a road trip with a difference.

Inquiry
GHETTO NATION: A JOURNEY INTO THE LAND OF BLING AND THE HOME OF THE SHAMELESS

We speak with award-winning journalist CORA DANIELS about big money, the music business and “gangsta rap”. Daniels exposes the role of corporate America in creating and profiting from the “ghetto persona” that “demeans women, devalues education, celebrates the worst African American stereotypes, and contributes to the destruction of civil peace.” Her book is GHETTO NATION: A JOURNEY INTO THE LAND OF BLING AND THE HOME OF THE SHAMELESS.

Inquiry
THE WARHOL ECONOMY: HOW FASHION, ART & MUSIC DRIVE NEW YORK CITY

Think the world can live happily without DJ Danger Mouse, Shepard Fairey’s graffiti, or those perky Manolo Blahnik pumps?

Inquiry
THE GREAT ARAB CONQUESTS: HOW THE SPREAD OF ISLAM CHANGED THE WORLD WE LIVE IN

Inquiry
A NATION OF COUNTERFEITERS: CAPITALISTS, CON MEN AND THE MAKING OF THE UNITED STATES

For most of the 19th Century, there was no federal control over currency in the United States. It was total monetary anarchy. Hundreds of independent banks designed and issued their own bills. Some of these banks were serious concerns, while others were just scams preying on a confused and unsuspecting populace. It was also a field day for counterfeiters who could easily fake bills from existing banks or simply create their own bogus bills.

Inquiry
Amy Davis: Good Girls and Wicked Witches

Walt Disney’s feature length animations have captivated children’s imaginations for many decades. But how are women portrayed in these films? We talk with AMY M. DAVIS, course director for Film Studies at the University of Ulster, Coleraine (Ireland) about her incisive film history GOOD GIRLS & WICKED WITCHES: WOMEN IN DISNEY’S FEATURE ANIMATION.  

Inquiry
WHY DON’T WOODPECKER’S GET HEADACHES? AND OTHER BIRD QUESTIONS YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO ASK

MIKE O’CONNOR, the owner of the famous Bird Watcher’s General Store on Cape Cod, has for some time written a column in the local paper in which he answers submitted questions about bird behavior, bird feeding and bird identification. Of course, being Mike, his sound advice is given with a great deal of attitude and humor. At 9PM, we talk with Mike about his published collection of columns titled WHY DON’T WOODPECKER’S GET HEADACHES?

Inquiry
BEATRIX POTTER: A LIFE IN NATURE

Beatrix Potter is best known for her wonderful children’s illustrated stories populated by the likes of Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-duck and Pigling Bland. Writer LINDA LEAR’s new biography reveals Potter as a unique, independent and creative woman well ahead of her times. Potter was a fledgling scientist, an accomplished artist and spent the latter half of her life as renowned woman of British country life managing several farms. Tune in tonight as we talk about BEATRIX POTTER: A LIFE IN NATURE.

Inquiry
THE SONGS OF INSECTS

Author and celebrator of the sounds of nature, LANG ELLIOTT returns to Inquiry, this time in the company of photographer, sound recorder and natural historian WIL HERSHBERGER. Together they have written and produced one of the most unique natural history book and CD packages called THE SONGS OF INSECTS. Want to know how and why grasshoppers, crickets and cicadas make their chirps, trills and whines, tune in!

Inquiry
NATURE’S ENGRAVER: A LIFE OF THOMAS BEWICK

Well before there was John James Audubon, there was Thomas Bewick, British artist, engraver and author and illustrator of what might be considered the first field guide to birds in the world. But he was much more than an accomplished bird artist, because Bewick’s miniature and complex engraved scenes of British rural life in the 18th century have defined the way many of us think about England at that time.

Inquiry
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR: DECIDING THE FATE OF NORTH AMERICA

 Inquiry welcomes back author and historian WALTER R. BORNEMAN. Walter’s new book is a revealing account of America’s first truly international conflict, a series of battles that changed the political landscape of the world and prepared America for it’s own War of Independence. Yet, it’s a history most American’s barely know. Tune in as we discuss Walter’s book THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR: DECIDING THE FATE OF NORTH AMERICA.

Inquiry
FREUD’S WIZARD: ERNEST JONES AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF PSYCHOANALYSIS

We talk with writer and biographer BRENDA MADDOX about her intriguing history of one of Sigmund Freud’s key “paladins”, Ernest Jones. Jones was a complex man, part of psychoanalysis’ secretive inner circle and one of its great international proselytizers. He was instrumental in getting Freud out of Nazi clutches in Austria and wrote a definitive history of Freud’s ideas. Yet, eventually, he would break with Freud and go his own way.

Inquiry
20th Century Sprawl

We speak with professor and Director of Urban Studies Program at Barnard and Columbia University OWEN D. GUTFREUND. His book 20TH CENTURY SPRAWL: HIGHWAYS AND THE RESHAPING OF THE AMERICAN LANDSCAPE traces the complex history of how Interstate Highways have been funded at the cost of urban development. This is an alarming story of greed, intense lobbying, urban disenfranchisement and environmental destruction.

Inquiry
A field guide to Sprawl

We speak with urban historian and architect DOLORES HAYDEN who has written the beautiful and profoundly disturbing A FIELD GUIDE TO SPRAWL. This book features the outstanding aerial photography of Jim Wark. Tune in and find out how our land is being squandered on the likes of “Starter Castles”, “Privatopias” and learn what “Putting Parsley Round The Pig” means. 

Inquiry
AGE OF BETRAYAL: THE TRIUMPH OF MONEY IN AMERICA 1865-1900

Senior Editor at Atlantic Monthly, JACK BEATTY has written a monumental history of American after the Civil War when corporations and big money wielded the political power in the country and rewrote the laws of the land to favor big business and monopolies. It’s a frightening story of politics, racism, class warfare and special interests. This is an interview you will not want to miss. The book is titled AGE OF BETRAYAL: THE TRIUMPH OF MONEY IN AMERICA 1865-1900

Inquiry
THE REPUBLIC OF PIRATES: BEING THE TRUE AND SURPRISING STORY OF THE CARIBBEAN PIRATES AND THE MAN WHO BROUGHT THEM DOWN

Ahhhhrrrrr! it’s “shiver me timbers, mateys” as Inquiry discusses the genuine pirates of the Caribbean. Journalist and historian COLIN WOODARD has written a rollicking tale of plundering pirates and the men who wanted these sea-faring rapscallions hung from the highest yardarm. Grab yer rum, me bucko, as Inquiry discusses THE REPUBLIC OF PIRATES: BEING THE TRUE AND SURPRISING STORY OF THE CARIBBEAN PIRATES AND THE MAN WHO BROUGHT THEM DOWN.

Inquiry
TRAINSCAPE: INSTALLATION ART FOR MODEL RAILROADS

All aboard!

Inquiry
WONDERFUL TONIGHT: GEORGE HARRISON, ERIC CLAPTON AND ME

PATTIE BOYD lived a life most of us can only dream of. She was a young model during the heyday of “Swinging London”, dated and eventually married Beatle George Harrison who wrote “Something” for her. She left George for Eric Clapton, who wrote “Bell Bottom Blues” and “Layla” about her.

Inquiry
PERFECT FROM NOW ON: HOW INDIE ROCK SAVED MY LIFE

Were you one of those sullen social outcasts that dressed only in black, thought no one understood you, and listened to the Smiths? Then tune in at 9:30, when Inquiry poses this odd question: can listening to The Cure, Joy Division and Guided By Voices in fact make you a better person?

Inquiry
PUNK FARM

Noted children’s book author and illustrator JARRETT J. KROSOCZKA returns once again to Inquiry to talk about his latest book PUNK FARM: ON TOUR! This is a rollicking sequel to the wildly popular PUNK FARM. Tune in and find out if an armadillo can have a MySpace page, which farm animal is “emo”, and whether the guitarist “Pig” has groupies. All this to the tune of a hardcore version of “The Wheels on the Bus”.  Don’t miss this interview!

Inquiry
WRECK THIS JOURNAL

At 9:30 PM, Inquiry speaks with artist KERI SMITH about her wildly creative manual for keeping a very non-traditional journal. This involves crumpling, folding, smearing, piercing, tearing and a lot of other things you normally wouldn’t dream of doing to a book. Smith’s do-it-yourself conceptual art work is titled WRECK THIS JOURNAL, and she definitely means it!

Inquiry
PRACTICING: A MUSICIAN’S RETURN TO MUSIC

What happens when you give up your long hard-earned career as a serious musician? Can you ever really leave the music behind? Can you ever return? What happens to your formally intimate relationship to the music when you do? Can you ever play as well again? Tonight, Inquiry talks with writer and classical guitarist GLENN KURTZ about his moving memoir of a life in and out of music, PRACTICING: A MUSICIAN’S RETURN TO MUSIC.

Inquiry
Cole Porter attended Worcester Academy

Few people realize that American songbook artist Cole Porter attended Worcester Academy. What kind of student was he? Did he skip classes? Throw spitballs? Did Cole find inspiration at Worcester Academy for his later music? Tune in when Inquiry talks with FRANK CALLAHAN, Director of Planned Giving for Worcester Academy, about Cole’s times in Worcester and his rather rocky relationship with the school’s infamous and stern director.

Inquiry
HEADLESS MALES MAKE GREAT LOVERS AND OTHER UNUSUAL NATURAL HISTORIES

MARTY CRUMP is an adjunct professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Northern Arizona University. She has written a wildly entertaining book about the more unusual behavior of animals.

Inquiry
TWILIGHT OF THE MAMMOTHS: ICE AGE EXTINCTIONS AND THE REWILDING OF AMERICA

 Have humans, as a species, always been horribly destructive to the environment?

Inquiry
JAMES BURKE: AMERICAN CONNECTIONS: THE FOUNDING FATHERS. NETWORKED

Inquiry always enjoys having writer, television host and historian JAMES BURKE drop by. Tonight, Burke begins with the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and follows them through numerous twists and turns of history to end up with someone of the same name in the 21st Century. Tune in tonight and find out what Josiah Bartlett has in common with Martin Sheen, how John Adams and CERN are connected, and how tracking Samuel Chase can lead to Bjork.

Inquiry
MATTERS OF EXCHANGE: COMMERCE, MEDICINE AND SCIENCE IN THE DUTCH GOLDEN AGE

 Holland in the 17th Century was the economic powerhouse of Europe. Goods from around the globe ended up on Holland’s shores. It was also a place where knowledge of medicine, natural history and science flourished. Was there a connection? Does commerce and knowledge go hand in hand?

Inquiry
THE PHYSICS OF SUPERHEROES

How much energy is needed to actually leap tall buildings in a single bound? Can the Flash really run up the side of a building if he goes really fast?

Inquiry
RICHARD MABEY ON THE LIFE OF GILBERT WHITE

One of the most published books in the English language is Gilbert White’s The Natural History of Selbourne. This book is a fascinating account of White’s meticulous observations of the plant and animal life in the small eighteenth-century village where he lived and served as curate. Though almost unknown in America, this book is considered the cornerstone of all environmental writing. Tonight, Inquiry speaks with ecology writer RICHARD MABEY about his definitive biography GILBERT WHITE.

Inquiry
FEMININTY IN FLIGHT: A HISTORY OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS

“Coffee? Tea? How about some respect?” Inquiry talks with historian KATHLEEN M. BARRY. She has written an outstanding account of the struggles of flight attendants to be taken seriously as workers and professionals. Flight attendants fought for respect and decent pay despite airlines entrenched policies about age, appearance, marriage and dress.  Barry’s book is FEMININTY IN FLIGHT: A HISTORY OF FLIGHT ATTENDANTS.

Inquiry
GOOD BIRDERS DON’T WEAR WHITE: 50 TIPS FROM NORTH AMERICA’S TOP BIRDERS

What sage advice would the nation’s expert birders give to novices? Minimize the khaki? Clean your binoculars? At 9:30 we talk with LISA WHITE, editor for Houghton Mifflin. She has compiled a book titled GOOD BIRDERS DON’T WEAR WHITE: 50 TIPS FROM NORTH AMERICA’S TOP BIRDERS, and it’s filled with useful information to help you better enjoy looking at the feathered tribes.

Inquiry
PROUST AND THE SQUID: THE STORY AND SCIENCE OF THE READING BRAIN

Is the ability to read in our DNA? Does learning to read change our brain structure? What about the evolution of reading? Why did the ancient Greeks invent the alphabet we are familiar with and then not use it for 300 years? Is reading Chinese in our brain the same as reading French? What happens in the brains of people with dyslexia?

Inquiry
AN OCEAN OF AIR: WHY THE WIND BLOWS AND OTHER MYSTERIES OF THE ATMOSPHERE

We walk through it, it is always all around and above us, it keeps kites aloft,  turns windmills and we even breathe it, yet few of us think twice about the earth’s atmosphere, what it is made of , how much it weighs and how it makes life on earth possible. At 9PM, we talk with award-winning science writer GABRIELLE WALKER about the discovery of the hole in the ozone layer and how the radioactive Van Allen Belts help create the beautiful auroras as well as keep us from being flash fried from solar flares.

Inquiry
LEVIATHAN: THE HISTORY OF WHALING IN AMERICA

Thar she blows! Whaling was one of the most important industries in the history of America. Some men made fortunes from it, but the life of a whaler was typically miserable and extremely dangerous. We talk with writer and historian ERIC JAY DOLIN about how whaling began in America and the heady days when Nantucket was the whaling capital of the world and tried to secede from America. Dolin’s rollicking history is titled LEVIATHAN: THE HISTORY OF WHALING IN AMERICA.

Inquiry
FOOLS ARE EVERYWHERE: THE COURT JESTER AROUND THE WORLD

The archetype of the jester is known from many cultures around the world. From ancient China, medieval Islam and Renaissance Europe, the fool can be found shaking their cap and bells and poking fun at society and royalty. But what were the lives of fools really like and how did they get away with making rude comments about the king?

Inquiry
THE COUNTER-CREATIONISM HANDBOOK

Inquiry speaks with MARK ISAAK, who has written numerous articles on the creation/evolution debate. He has compiled a massive workbook that succinctly rebukes every question or point that creationists have made about evolution. This completely referenced and easy to use handbook should be in the classroom of every science or biology teacher and is titled THE COUNTER-CREATIONISM HANDBOOK.

Inquiry
CHRYSALIS: MARIA SIBILLA MERIAN AND THE SECRETS OF METAMORPHOSIS

In the late 16th Century Holland, a certain unique divorced woman carved a life out for herself as an artist and natural historian studying metamorphosis. Eventually she traveled to far-flung Surinam to collect and paint insects in the New World tropics and published a beautiful book of her research. Despite all her accomplishments, her life and art had been overlooked and ignored and it is only now that her reputation as a groundbreaking woman of natural sciences is being restored.

Inquiry
THE IAMBICS OF NEWFOUNDLAND: NOTES FROM AN UNKNOWN SHORE

 Inquiry spends some time with noted nature writer ROBERT FINCH. His latest book is a wonderful collection of pieces he has written about the land, the people and the wildlife of one of the remotest places in Atlantic Canada. Finch’s book is titled THE IAMBICS OF NEWFOUNDLAND: NOTES FROM AN UNKNOWN SHORE. 

Inquiry
THE JAZZ MANDOLIN PROJECT

Inquiry speaks with JAMES MASEFIELD leader of the trio THE JAZZ MANDOLIN PROJECT. We will talk about the groups various musical projects and about their dynamic multi-media presentation “How Much Land Does A Man Need”, based on a work by Leo Tolstoy. Go to: http://www.jazzmandolinproject.com for further information.

Inquiry
ALTER EGO: AVATARS AND THEIR CREATORS.

 Just when you thought the strange world that PCs and the Internet have wrought couldn’t possibly get any weirder, then comes rabid game players’ and their AVATARS. Writer and photographer ROBBIE COOPER has created a series of startling photographic diptychs of hard-core game players posing opposite their fantasy gaming personalities. It’s a creative world that defies society’s preconceived ideas of race, age and gender. Everything in the gaming sphere is possible and encouraged.

Inquiry
Vanessa James: Shakespeare

Inquiry welcomes back VANESSA JAMES, professor of Theatre and chair of the Department of Theatre Arts at Mount Holyoke College. Her latest book/art project is SHAKESPEARE’S GENEALOGIES: PLOTS & ILLUSTRATED FAMILY TREES FOR ALL 42 WORKS. This beautiful “book” unfolds to become a 17 foot long, two sided wall hanging!

Inquiry
SEANET- Julie EllisThen at 9:30, we talk with JULIE ELLIS, PhD of Tufts University, about an amazing project that has volunteers walking the beaches of New England to look for dead seabirds. Though that may sound grotesque, SEANET, the Seabird Ecological Assessment Network, is a wonderful example of “citizen science”, and involves the public in gathering data on the causes of recent massive mortality events among seabirds and by doing so, to learn more about the health and ecology of our oceans. If you would like to help out in this important project, tune in!

Inquiry
Dinosaurs and Birds - Luis Chiappe

Inquiry
Conversations -Burinskaya -Wackell

Inquiry
Uncommon Quilting - Jeanne Williamson

Inquiry
James Prosek: Life and Death: A Visual Taxonomy

 Inquiry speaks with artist, writer, filmmaker, musician and fly fisherman par excellence JAMES PROSEK. His complex installation “Life and Death: A Visual Taxonomy” combines paintings, sculpture, field guide silhouettes and actual bird skins in an investigation of the human significance of birds.

Inquiry
PRESEUMED INNOCENCE: PHOTOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVES ON CHILDREN FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANTHONY AND BETH TERRANA

 Inquiry welcomes back RACHEL ROSENFIELD LAFO, Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Decordova Museum and Sculpture Park. Rachel discusses the new exhibition PRESEUMED INNOCENCE: PHOTOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVES ON CHILDREN FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANTHONY AND BETH TERRANA. This monumental show features a hundred years of photography, from all over the world that features children as their subject.

Inquiry
MOTHERS-IN-LAW AND DAUGHTERS-IN-LAW: UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIP AND WHAT MAKES THEM FRIEND OR FOE

One of the most complex relationships in a newlywed family is that between a mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law. Why are some in-law relationships rewarding and supportive while others are filled with tensions and frustrations?

Inquiry
PLATO AND A PLATYPUS WALK INTO A BAR: UNDERSTANDING PHILOSOPHY THROUGH JOKES

After discussing the meaning of the universe, it’s time for some philosophy, and I can think of no better guests to have that discussion with than THOMAS CATHCART and DANIEL KLEIN. They met decades ago in the Harvard Philosophy Department and have gone on to write one of the flat out funniest AND intelligent books on philosophy this side of Satre’s Nausea. In person, they are the equivalent of trying to discuss Schopenhauer with Bob and Ray…only funnier.

Inquiry
Caryl Flinn on Ethel Merman

Ethel Merman started out as a working class girl who literally brought the house down one fine night.  From that moment on, she was known around the world as a legendary singer. Merman was the toast of Broadway in its heyday in the late 30s and 40s. She could belt out the songs of Girl Crazy, Annie Get Your Gun or Hello, Dolly!

Inquiry
Trying Leviathan -Graham Burnett

In 1818, through a bizarre series of circumstances, taxonomy and science were put on trial in a courthouse in New York City. What started as a minor case about the inspection of barrels of whale oil, became a showcase trial on the publics understanding of natural history and the new order of nature. The whole cause célèbre court case revolved around a deceptively simple question: was a whale  a “fish” or a “mammal”?

Inquiry
Leonard Marcus on Golden Books

Do you remember The Poky Little Puppy? Scruffy the Tugboat? Tootles? The Color Kittens?

Inquiry
Golden Wings and Hairy Toes - Todd McLeish

Golden Wings and Hairy Toes by natural history writer and Rhode Island native TODD McLEISH is one of the most enjoyable and informative books on New England wildlife published in some time.

Inquiry
Vermeer’s Hat: The 17th Century And The Dawn Of The Global World - Timothy Brook

 What can a 17th Century painting by the Dutch artist Vermeer tell us about the aesthetics of the rich and powerful in China? How can the pretty designs on a simple porcelain Deltware plate reveal the convoluted story of the pernicious spread of tobacco around the globe?

Inquiry
The Hidden Sense: Synesthesia In Art And Science -Cretien van Campen

Have you ever smelled a color? Or heard the song of a day of the week?

Inquiry
Jack Kerouac's American Journey - Maher

American iconic author Jack Kerouac’s seminal works ON THE ROAD and VISIONS OF CODY were inspired by the real-life cross-country trips he took in the late 40s and early 50s. Tonight’s guest, writer and Kerouac scholar PAUL MAHER JR. has written a book that ties Kerouac’s actual adventures across America with Allen Ginsburg, William Burroughs and the always out of control Neal Cassady with Kerouac’s fiction. Maher’s book is JACK KEROUAC’S AMERICAN JOURNEY: THE REAL-LIFE ODYSSEY OF “ON THE ROAD”

Inquiry
American Transcendentalism - Gura

They were the original hippies, the “ Beats” of the 19th Century”. They were a lost generation of unruly counter-culture radicals, challenging all accepted doctrines, living in crazy free-love communes and communing with nature. They were the Transcendentalists, described by one contemporary wag as “a race who dove into the infinite, soared into the illimitable and never paid cash” all the while “eating Orphic acorns by the peck.” Tonight, Inquiry speaks with PHILIP F. GURA, the William S.

Inquiry
The Decordova Annual Show

Join us tonight for a full hour of lively conversations about contemporary art. Inquiry welcomes DINA DEITSCH, Assistant Curator at the Decordova Museum Sculpture Park. She will be discussing the always exciting and interesting Decordova Annual Show that features new works from a number of the northeast’s most challenging artists.

Inquiry
The Magic Treehouse series: a conversation with MARY POPE OSBORNE and NATALIE POPE BOYCE.

Tonight on Inquiry, we have the distinct pleasure of talking with MARY POPE OSBORNE and NATALIE POPE BOYCE, the authors of the beloved Magic Tree House series of children’s books and their fascinating non-fiction companion research guides. Tune in and find out how this series of now forty titles first began; how Mary gets ideas for new titles and learn about the new Magic Tree House musical.

Inquiry
Lynne Cherry -Inquiry Extra! How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate

ON-LINE EXCLUSIVE: Sometimes the conversation with a guest just keeps going! A special extended conversation that occured when the on-air show ended.

Inquiry
Lynne Cherry on Global Warming

Inquiry welcomes back award-wining children’s book author, illustrator and environmental activist LYNNE CHERRY. Lynne talks about her new book, written with GARY BRAASCH, titled How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate. This new textbook for middle school aged children, is a hard scientific look at what we know about global warming as well as an inviting guide to “citizen science” children can do in their own classroom.

Inquiry
Susan Swinand

At 9:30, Inquiry welcomes back artist and teacher SUSAN SWINAND. Susan will talk about her stunning new work and her upcoming exhibition. To see some examples of Susan’s rambunctious and wild paintings, go to: http://www.swinand.com

Inquiry
Richard Louv: Last Child In The Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder

Put down that I-Pod and take a hike! That’s some of what RICHARD LOUV recommends in his book Last Child In The Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder. What is happening to the minds and bodies of this current generation of children who seem to never experience the out of doors? Louv talks about the numerous health benefits to our children that time playing in that local woodlot or field can offer and why many parents fear letting their children roam outside.

Inquiry
Paul Karasik - FLETCHER HANKS: I SHALL DESTROY ALL THE CIVILIZED PLANETS.

Writer, artist and teacher PAUL KARASIK has collected the works of one of the most bizarre and unique comic book artists that ever put pen to superhero. Fletcher Hanks worked for third-rate comics in the late ‘30s and early ‘40s.  Till now, his strange tales of banshee-like jungle goddesses and vengeful intergalactic superheroes with insane powers have only been known to a select few collectors.

Inquiry
Jeff Wiltse: CONTESTED WATERS: A SOCIAL HISTORY OF SWIMMING POOLS IN AMERICA.

One of the most unique and fascinating social histories of America is JEFF WILTSE’s CONTESTED WATERS: A SOCIAL HISTORY OF SWIMMING POOLS IN AMERICA. On tonight’s Inquiry, Wiltse, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Montana, describes how public pools were originally designed as bathhouses for the urban poor.

Inquiry
David Lee: Nature's Palette: The Science of Plant Color

Roses may be red, and violets of course may be blue, but why? Why is one rose white while another is pink?

Inquiry
Jeff Wells: THE BIRDER'S CONSERVATION HANDBOOK

Did you know that 58% of the area of the lower 48 states no longer supports natural vegetation? Or that 57% of all ecological communities in the United States are “imperiled” or “vulnerable”?

Inquiry
Daniel Pink ARCHIVE-ONLY Xtra

Exclusive web-only extra content: Rarely does the conversation stop at 30 minutes. So what do we talk about AFTER the mikes are normally turned "off"? Tune in and find out! We continue our conversation with the one and only DANIEL PINK about his wild and hilarious career guide that is the form of a MANGA! Learn about the importance of "making excellent mistakes".

Inquiry
Daniel H. Pink : The ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY BUNKO: THE LAST CAREER GUIDE YOU WILL EVER NEED

Inquiry welcomes back DANIEL H. PINK, writer and lecturer on economic transformation and the rapidly changing world of work. Daniel has written a new career guide unlike any other you have seen before. It’s a manga, and a highly entertaining one at that. Tune in as we talk about THE ADVENTURES OF JOHNNY BUNKO: THE LAST CAREER GUIDE YOU WILL EVER NEED.

Inquiry
Mark Harris Xtra: Why DOCTOR DOOLITTLE WAS SUCH A BAD FILM!

ARCHIVED WEB-EXCLUSIVE: Our conversation continues with MARK HARRIS with this segment not heard during the broadcast. You will not believe what went on during the filming of this notorious bomb of a musical! After listening to this segment, I guarantee you will look at the Oscar-winning star of My Fair Lady in a completely different light.

Inquiry
Mark Harris: Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood

Inquiry has a fascinating talk with writer and journalist MARK HARRIS about the evolution of Hollywood films in the 1960s by closely looking at the trials and tribulations of the films: The Graduate, Bonnie and Clyde, In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?

Inquiry
JEFFREY BENNETT: more on the search for extra-terrestrial life

Is there life on other planets in our solar system? Is there a galactic civilization that occupies this tiny end of the universe? If there are aliens out there, how come we haven’t bumped into them yet?

Inquiry
Cathcart and Klein-Political DoubleSpeak-extra on-line content

THOMAS CATHCART and DANIEL KLEIN just keep going!!! Lots more content not heard during the "on-air" broadcast.

Inquiry
Jeffrey Bennett:BEYOND UFOS: THE SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE AND IT’S ASTONISHING INPLICATIONS FOR OUR FUTURE.

Is there life on other planets in our solar system? Is there a galactic civilization that occupies this tiny end of the universe? If there are aliens out there, how come we haven’t bumped into them yet?

more conversation with photographer Rosalie Winard-Extra "on-line" segment only

The conversation with artist and photographer ROSALIE WINARD continues in this "on-line" ONLY segment.

Inquiry
Photographer Rosalie Winard: Wildbirds of the American Wetlands

Inquiry speaks with photographer and natural historian ROSALIE WINARD. Rosalie has spent a lifetime photographing herons, egrets, cranes and pelicans across America. Her shimmering large format black and white photographs are unique, unlike any other natural history photography you have seen before.  A stunning new collection of her work can be found in WILDBIRDS OF THE AMERICAN WETLANDS.

Inquiry
MikeHansel: BUILT BY ANIMALS: THE NATURAL HISTORY OF ANIMAL ARCHITECTURE

How can millions of tiny termites organize themselves to build complex mounds 10 feet high? Why is starting a bird’s nest the most difficult part of its construction?

Inquiry
MikeHansel-Extra "on-line" ONLY content: Bower Birds and human aesthetics

On this "on-line" ONLY segment, we talk about the amazing structures built by BOWER BIRDS and what animal architecture may say about a human's taste in art.

Inquiry
Andrew D Blechman LEISUREVILLE: ADVENTURES IN AMERICA’S RETIREMENT UTOPIAS

The Villages is a mammoth “active adult” community in central Florida that sprawls over three counties. Most residents commute on campus via golf carts. There is a different golf course for every day of the month, and more are being created. The Villages has its own carefully controlled and edited daily paper, radio station and TV station. Residents are free to play, drink and debauch 24/7. But behind this utopia are some ugly realities: this is a privately held business.

Inquiry
Susan Jacoby:21st Century THE AGE OF AMERICAN UNREASON.

After listening to your local “talk” radio, or watching any “reality” TV show or listening to most politicians speak, do you ever get the feeling that we suffer from endemic anti-intellectual tendencies? Why does there seem to be a permanent fault line between faith and rationalism in America? Do you ever get the feeling, as Bill Moyers once lamented, that “the delusional is no longer marginal”?

Inquiry
Andrew D Blechman

Inquiry
Cathcart and Klein Understanding Political Doublespeak Through Philosophy and Jokes.

THOMAS CATHCART and DANIEL KLEIN return to Inquiry to talk about the logical fallacies that make up most of what we call political discourse. Talking to Tom and Dan is like trying to converse with some mad mythological creature that is part stand-up comedian, part Harvard philosophy professor. Hilarious AND thought provoking.

Inquiry
Peter Chapman:BANANAS: HOW THE UNITED FRUIT COMPANY SHAPED THE WORLD.

The United Fruit Company, the world’s largest grower and exporters of bananas created an empire that controlled large regions of most of Central America and a few countries in South America. Since the late 1800s, the UFC ran their enormous plantations with an iron hand, and if any country’s president got in the way, well “regime change” was just one of their many common unsavory business practices.

Inquiry
Jim Edwards Jim Hanken: The Encyclopedia of Life

Imagine a vast colorful encyclopedia that would list every single living species of animal, invertebrate, protozoa and plant in existence and include a picture, description, range map and references?

Inquiry
Peter Chapman-Extra: The Banana Man and Chiquita

More conversation with Peter Chapman not heard during the on-air broadcast. Learn about the "Banana Man" and that squishy seductress "Chiquita".

Inquiry
Encyclopedia of Life-extra: how you can contribute information

Content not heard during the on-air broadcast.  Learn about how you can actually contribute to this important project.

Inquiry
Jennifer 8 Lee-THE FORTUNE COOKIE CHRONICLES: ADVENTURES IN THE WORLD WITH CHINESE FOOD

American Chinese restaurants are found from coast to coast, North Dakota to South Carolina and outnumber all the MacDonald’s and Burger Kings put together. But the cuisine these eateries