Story in the Public Square

Story in the Public Square is a weekly, public affairs show designed to study, celebrate, and tell stories that matter. The show is inspired by the power of stories to shape public understanding of important issues. For example, Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," shined a crucial light on the violence and inhumanity of American slavery, fueled the abolition movement, and inspired Abraham Lincoln, upon meeting the author, to say "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war." Narrative is no less important today-though the vehicles for dissemination are much more diverse. From a great novel to a film, a song, or even a Tweet, stories still very much impact the way the American public looks at issues. Our show turns a critical eye to these stories and their tellers.

Thu, Jun 27 6:00 A.M. Helen Schulman     NH WORLD

It's almost taken for granted that technology is changing America.

Thu, Jun 27 1:00 P.M. Helen Schulman     NH WORLD

It's almost taken for granted that technology is changing America.

Sun, Jun 30 8:30 A.M. Helen Schulman     NH EXPLORE

It's almost taken for granted that technology is changing America.

Thu, Jul 4 6:00 A.M. Philip Deloria     NH WORLD

The British colonies in the New World, and later the United States, were built on land taken from native populations.

Thu, Jul 4 1:00 P.M. Philip Deloria     NH WORLD

The British colonies in the New World, and later the United States, were built on land taken from native populations.

Sun, Jul 7 8:30 A.M. Philip Deloria     NH EXPLORE

The British colonies in the New World, and later the United States, were built on land taken from native populations.

Thu, Jul 11 6:00 A.M. Lisa Genova     NH WORLD

Lisa Genova, best-selling author (Still Alice; Every Note Played; and more) and neuroscientist.

Thu, Jul 11 1:00 P.M. Lisa Genova     NH WORLD

Lisa Genova, best-selling author (Still Alice; Every Note Played; and more) and neuroscientist.

Sun, Jul 14 8:30 A.M. Lisa Genova     NH EXPLORE

Lisa Genova, best-selling author (Still Alice; Every Note Played; and more) and neuroscientist.

Thu, Jul 18 6:00 A.M. Adam Zyglis     NH WORLD

Adam Zyglis, Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist from The Buffalo News.

Thu, Jul 18 1:00 P.M. Adam Zyglis     NH WORLD

Adam Zyglis, Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist from The Buffalo News.

Sun, Jul 21 8:30 A.M. Adam Zyglis     NH EXPLORE

Adam Zyglis, Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist from The Buffalo News.

Thu, Jul 25 6:00 A.M. Maggie Smith     NH WORLD

Maggie Smith, an award winning poet.

Thu, Jul 25 1:00 P.M. Maggie Smith     NH WORLD

Maggie Smith, an award winning poet.

Sun, Jul 28 8:30 A.M. Maggie Smith     NH EXPLORE

Maggie Smith, an award winning poet.

Thu, Aug 1 6:00 A.M. Danny Strong     NH WORLD

Danny Strong, Emmy-winning screenwriter and co-creator of "Empire" on FOX.

Thu, Aug 1 6:30 A.M. Danny Strong     NH WORLD

Danny Strong, Emmy-winning screenwriter and co-creator of "Empire" on FOX.

Thu, Aug 1 1:00 P.M. Danny Strong     NH WORLD

Danny Strong, Emmy-winning screenwriter and co-creator of "Empire" on FOX.

Thu, Aug 1 1:30 P.M. Danny Strong     NH WORLD

Danny Strong, Emmy-winning screenwriter and co-creator of "Empire" on FOX.

Sun, Aug 4 8:30 A.M. Danny Strong     NH EXPLORE

Danny Strong, Emmy-winning screenwriter and co-creator of "Empire" on FOX.

Story in the Public Square By Episode

  • Maddie McGarvey (#106)

    The work of talented photographers inspires: the composition; the courage to go after stories; the ability to frame a subject is so much more than simply "pointing and shooting" a camera.

  • Martin Puchner (#107)

    Stories have the power to change the world. Martin Puchner is a scholar of the impact stories have had on minds around the world, and on human history itself.

  • Tara Copp (#108)

    Whether it's a film like "Saving Private Ryan," or a memoir like A Helmet for My Pillow, the temptation to romanticize war-and the Second World War, in particular-is part of American life.

  • Caroline Orr (#109)

    A behavioral scientist by training, an unwanted Twitter celebrity by circumstance, Caroline Orr uses social media to make sure her scholarship reaches a wide audience-and in doing so helped expose Russia's disinformation campaign against the United States.

  • Daphne Matziaraki (#110)

    4.1 miles is the distance from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos, and the scene of incredible human courage, compassion, and loss as told by Daphne Matziaraki in her Academy Award-nominated short documentary about the refugee crisis in Europe.

  • Julian Chambliss (#111)

    Local plans to remove Civil War monuments reflect not just the history of America's bloodiest war, but our collective memory of it as well.

  • Edward Luce (#112)

    Western liberalism-the idea that freedom is best preserved by free institutions-is under assault.

  • Cj Chivers (#113)

    News consumers rely on a select group of journalists willing to travel into combat zones to understand the conflicts of the 21st century.

  • Padma Venkatraman (#114)

    The stories we tell ourselves shape who we are, as individuals, and as a society.

  • Mark Blyth (#115)

    One of the most persistent ideas in the politics of the West, whether we're talking about Europe or the United States, is that government debt is best attacked through reducing government spending.

  • Alan Lightman (#116)

    The tension between faith and reason is an ancient one, made even more distinct in the West by the scientific revolution that preceded the era of the Enlightenment.

  • Jacquelyn Schneider (#117)

    The intermingling of traditional and emerging security challenges demands fresh thinking from a new generation of scholars and practitioners-guest Jacquelyn Schneider tells us that some of those new thinkers and new soldiers will not look like their predecessors.

  • Sr. Helen Prejean (#201)

    Since 1976, nearly 1500 Americans have been executed in the name of justice.

  • John Kerry (#202)

    Former Secretary of State and Democratic Senator of Massachusetts John Kerry is interviewed.

  • Jeffrey Lewis (#203)

    Speculative fiction allows authors to spin out scenarios and game outcomes from real-life headlines.

  • Rosella Cappella Zielinski (#204)

    Domestic political and economic considerations influence nations' foreign policies and how they wage conflict.

  • Karen King (#205)

    Even for the devout, questions about the earliest history of Christianity can seem lost behind a shroud of history and official church teachings.

  • Jason Rafferty (#206)

    Recently, the Trump administration proposed defining gender as an individual's assigned sex at birth.

  • Mike Stanton (#207)

    There are not a lot of examples of perfection in life-except in the world of sports.

  • Alice Robb (#208)

    Poets, rock stars, authors-and even mere mortals-all share a nightly sojourn-a temporary stay-in the land of dreams.

  • Jeff Jackson (#209)

    Stories are sometimes told with a particular message for their audiences.

  • Llewellyn King (#210)

    Democracy relies on facts, accurately reported and commonly understood-and journalists play an essential role in building that shared body of knowledge.

  • Darnisa Amante (#211)

  • Helen Ouyang (#212)

  • Elisa Kreisinger (#213)

  • Sarah Fawn Montgomery (#214)

    Millions of Americans live with mental illness every day.

  • Kim Wallace (#215)

    Video games are a $138 billion per year global industry with their own language and culture.

  • Elizabeth Kolbert (#216)

    Human actions are changing the environment in catastrophic ways for many species.

  • Michael A. Cohen and Micah Zenko (#217)

    It's easy to be convinced by talk show hosts and politicians that American security hangs on the razor's edge and that the world is more dangerous, now, than it has ever been.

  • Peter Blanck (#218)

    Sixty-one million Americans live with some kind of disability.

  • Michael J. Mazarr (#219)

    The war in Iraq has cost the United States trillions of dollars and thousands of lives.

  • Katherine Brown (#220)

    The war in Afghanistan is America's longest war, and Katherine Brown explains how stories told by American journalists have shaped the public's understanding of the conflict and the options available to American and Afghan leaders.

  • Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha (#221)

    Flint, Michigan, has become a cautionary tale about America's decaying infrastructure.

  • Alexandra Watts (#222)

    Local journalism is one of the keys to American democracy.

  • Julie Keller (#223)

    The super-heated rhetoric over immigration and border security in the United States is part of a long tradition of anti-immigration hysteria.

  • William Taubman (#224)

    Mikhail Gorbachev is one of the most important figures of the 20th century.

  • Helen Schulman (#225)

    It's almost taken for granted that technology is changing America.

  • Philip Deloria (#226)

    The British colonies in the New World, and later the United States, were built on land taken from native populations.

  • Lisa Genova (#301)

    Lisa Genova, best-selling author (Still Alice; Every Note Played; and more) and neuroscientist.

  • Adam Zyglis (#302)

    Adam Zyglis, Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist from The Buffalo News.

  • Maggie Smith (#303)

    Maggie Smith, an award winning poet.

  • Danny Strong (#304)

    Danny Strong, Emmy-winning screenwriter and co-creator of "Empire" on FOX.

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