TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE

Click here to return to the Main Menu

Stephen Nissenbaum teaches history at the University of Massachusetts and is the author of "The Battle for Christmas." He tells Steve Paulson that the Puritans tried to ban the holiday because traditional celebrations were drunken and sacriligious and that the "traditional" American Christmas is largely the creation of an elitist group of 19th century New Yorkers. Also, Jim Fleming samples some of the parody alternatives to "The Night before Christmas," courtesy of the World Wide Web. Listeners can read more by using their search engines to locate "Laughweb."

Selena Fox is a Wiccan priestess, psychotherapist and Executive Director of Circle Sanctuary - an eco-spiritual center just outside Madison, Wisconsin. She tells Judith Strasser that she sees great value in honoring the pagan origins of the winter holidays and shares some of her household's traditions.

Norwegian writer Jostein Gaarder, author of the best- selling "Sophie's World," "The Solitaire Mystery" and now "The Christmas Mystery," tells Jim Fleming how a little boy with a magic advent calendar travels through time to discover the history of Christmas.

Tony Rose is the executive director of the Biosynergy Institute in California. He talks with Judith Strasser about the "bush meat trade" that is, the hunting of rare and exotic animals for meat, which threatens the survival of the great apes. Also, Amy Vedder and Bill Weber, founders of the Mountain Gorilla Project in Rwanda tell Steve Paulson about their field work; their rocky relationship with gorilla champion Dian Fossey; and the development of ecotourism as part of a long-term conservation strategy.

Joyce Poole has worked with elephants for the last twenty years. Her memoir is called "Coming of Age with Elephants." She tells Steve Paulson that elephants are sensitive, intelligent, social animals and that killing them for sport is an outrage.

Gareth Patterson was a protege of the famous Adamson family who pioneered the pracice of returning lions to the wild. (Remember "Born Free") Patterson raised three orphaned cubs as a member of their pride. He tells Jim Fleming about his experiences, and the sad story of how one of his lions met its end. Patterson is the author of "Last of the Free" and "With My Soul amongst Lions."

Rick Knight, a wildlife biologist at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, tells Steve Paulson about the new immigrants to the intermountain west and the damage they're doing to the environment they came to enjoy. Also, British writer Jonathan Raban tells Jim Fleming about the landscape and history of settlement in eastern Montana. Raban's new book is "Badlands: An American Romance."

Alan Taylor, a historian at the University of California at Davis, tells Judith Strasser about an early American land speculator and the subject of his book - "William Cooper's Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early American Republic." Cooperstown is best known today as the site of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Thomas Slaughter teaches history at Rutgers and is the author of "The Natures of John and William Bartram." He tells Steve Paulson the story of the men he considers America's first naturalists.

Click here to return to the Main Menu