History

Archbishop Óscar Romero stands outside the chapel of the Hospital de la Divina Providencia in San Salvador on Nov. 20, 1979.

A 'Voice For The Voiceless': Sainthood For El Salvador's Archbishop Óscar Romero

11:30am October 12, 2018

by Danny Hajek

Romero was an outspoken champion of the poor who pleaded for social justice during a time of widespread violence. On Sunday, Romero will be canonized as a saint at the Vatican.

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Costumed activists riding elaborately decorated bicycles paraded down the streets of Vancouver last month to bring attention to the challenges facing the sockeye salmon population in the Fraser River and its connection to Canada's indigenous people.

Canada's Wild Salmon Caravan Connects Future Of Fish And Indigenous People

8:02am October 12, 2018

by Anna Kusmer

Warming oceans and development threaten the West Coast's wild salmon. So activists started a traveling celebration to draw attention to the plight of the sockeye in Canada's Fraser River.

Politics & Government

How Does Trump's Midterm Campaigning Compare To Other Presidents?

7:12am October 12, 2018

David Greene talks to columnist and commentator Cokie Roberts, who explores the history of how presidents have influenced off-year congressional races.

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In new books, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Joseph J. Ellis — also Jon Meacham, whose tome hit shelves in May — aim to contextualize or contrast the Trump era with the leadership of previous presidents.

Three Pulitzer Prize-Winning Historians Aim To Put American Politics In Context

1:24pm October 11, 2018

by Scott Detrow

In new books, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Joseph J. Ellis — also Jon Meacham, whose tome hit shelves in May — aim to contextualize or contrast the Trump era with the leadership of previous presidents.

Books

Memoir Of A Black Lives Matter Activist

1:13pm October 11, 2018

DeRay Mckesson showed up in Ferguson, MO days after an unarmed black teenager was killed by a police officer — and took up residence in a new social justice movement that brought real reform to policing in America. The experience has never left him.

Books

How Presidents Have Appropriated War Powers From Congress

7:03am October 11, 2018

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to presidential historian Michael Beschloss about how presidents have chipped away at the congressional power to declare war. It's the subject of his book, Presidents of War.

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Books

Stephen Carter's Book Tells How His Grandmother Helped Convict A Mob Boss

6:10am October 10, 2018

Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep talks to Stephen Carter about his book Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster.

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'Presidents Of War' Sounds The Alarm About Presidential Power

10:00am October 09, 2018

by Terri Bimes

In his new book, Michael Beschloss focuses on the lead up to war. But a more pressing danger and indictment of presidential power may be the interventions not authorized by Congress.

Ancient Maya ruins at Tikal in northern Guatemala, near the border with Belize. Researcher Heather McKillop explains that Maya sites like Tikal could have been popular marketplaces to trade salt and other commodities.

Ancient Maya: Astrologists, Farmers ... And Salt Entrepreneurs?

3:00pm October 08, 2018

by Rachel D. Cohen

Evidence from a site in Belize shows the Maya not only had large-scale salt-producing operations along the coast, they were also using salt to preserve fish for their extensive trade networks.

Our own Jacob Goldstein made this candle out of animal fat.

Economy

Episode 534: The History of Light (Nobel Edition)

1:28pm October 08, 2018

Bill Nordhaus just won the economics Nobel. In this show: He shows how history of light is the history of economic growth — of things getting faster, cheaper, and more efficient.