February 21, 2017: Katherine Brown

With the transfer of power in Washington, the stories the United States tells the world are changing, too. Hosts Jim Ludes and G. Wayne Miller are joined by Katherine Brown, a public diplomacy professional who has served the United States from the corridors of Foggy Bottom to Kabul Afghanistan.

March 1, 2017: Eric Bennett

Hosts Jim Ludes and G. Wayne Miller are joined by a remarkably talented scholar and novelist whose work, whether for academic or popular audiences, traces the role of both narrative and truth in public life, Eric Bennett.

February 6, 2017: Jonathan Alexandratos

How we play and how we teach our children to play are tremendously important narratives in public life. Jonathan Alexandratos argues that “toys are texts,” and we should read them with the same analytical eye we bring to books, movies, songs, and other media.

February 15, 2017: Marc Smerling

Politicians and voters may hate crime, but American audiences can’t get enough of shows like CSI or Law and Order. This week, we’re joined by Emmy-winning filmmaker Marc Smerling, who has intimately chronicled some of America’s most notorious criminals.

February 3, 2017: Dan Fagin

Science is simultaneously celebrated, ignored, and criticized in public life. In this episode of “Story in the Public Square,” hosts Jim Ludes and G. Wayne Miller sit down with Pulitzer-Prize winning science journalist Dan Fagin to better understand the power of science to explain the world around us, whether we like what it’s telling us, or not.

January 23, 2017: Lorén Spears, Christian Hopkins

One of the big stories of the last six months has been the protest over the Dakota Access Pipeline. This week on “Story in the Public Square,” two Native American activists talk about events on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation and the role of storytelling in native culture.

January 18, 2017: Tom Nichols

The United States finds itself in the midst of an information war with an old adversary. This week, national security analyst Tom Nichols will help us understand the contours of that conflict, the role of storytelling in it, and also the implications of what he calls “the death of expertise.”