RadioWest

From Match.com to Tinder, there are all kinds of ways single people meet each other in today’s tech-driven world. It was a whole lot simpler and, some would say, better just a generation ago – what happened to meeting someone and asking them to dinner? According to scholar Moira Weigel, this is nothing new. As dating has changed throughout American history, people have questioned matchmaking practices. Weigel joins us Friday to explore the transformation of dating. Her book is called Labor of

What should the future look like? That’s the question posed by ambitious, sometimes delusional Americans in the early 1800s who dedicated themselves to creating new ways of living. You had Mother Ann Lee’s Shakers; the Oneida community in New York; New Harmony, Indiana; intentional communities inspired by French socialist Charles Fourier; and the roots of a communist paradise in Texas. Wednesday, the writer Chris Jennings joins us to explore the idealism and the lasting impact of these five

NPR’s Shankar Vedantam says that in some ways, human behavior is the ultimate frontier of science. After all, there’s a lot we don’t know about why behave the way we do. But if we can get a glimpse at the unconscious patterns that influence us, Vedantam argues we have the potential to make big changes in our lives and our world. Shankar Vedantam is host of the popular podcast Hidden Brain, and Tuesday, he joins us to explain how science and storytelling can improve the human experience.

Monday, we’re putting Utah’s voters under the microscope, and we’re particularly curious about what motivates the state’s Mormon electorate. Utah has long been a sure bet for the Republican Party. This year, the party’s presidential candidate is putting Utah’s partisan loyalty to the test. But where does that loyalty come from? What matters most to the state’s electorate? And are voters here really all that different from the average American? A panel of guests will join us, and we hope you will

Niccolò Machiavelli lived hundreds of years ago, and though he was a gifted political strategist, he knew nothing about democratic republics. So the scholar Maurizio Viroli recognizes that it’s a bit extravagant to consult a 15th-century Florentine for electoral advice in 21st-century America. But Machiavelli, Viroli says, remains the most competent, honest and disinterested political counselor we could ask for. Viroli joins us Friday to examine what Machiavelli can teach us about choosing

Laurie Rubin has been blind since birth, and she says people imagine her world to be a dark place. But the accomplished mezzo-soprano and lyricist experiences color all around her. She says yellow is an afternoon when birds are singing; green is her backyard; blue is an early morning or the key of G. Rubin is performing in Park City this weekend, and Thursday, she joins Doug to talk about growing up blind, learning to navigate the world, and dreaming in color.

Entomologist Justin O. Schmidt is on a mission. Some say it’s a brave exploration, others shake their heads in disbelief. His goal: to catalogue the painful effects of stinging insects on humans, mainly using himself as the gauge. Most people regard stinging insects as horrible pests, but by investigating their lifestyles and adaptations, Schmidt hopes to spread his passion for the inherently interesting story every animal on earth has to tell. Schmidt joins us to explore the world of stinging

We like to think of America as a class-free society where anyone who works hard can achieve economic success. Historian Nancy Isenberg says it’s a promise as old as our nation, and that it’s always been a myth. She argues that landowners and the elite have only valued the poor for their labor - while describing them as vagrants, crackers, squatters, and rednecks. Isenberg joins us Tuesday to trace what she calls the 400-year untold history of class in America. Her book is called White Trash.

Monday, the writer and oncologist Siddhartha Mukherjee is our guest. He’s written a new book that tells the epic tale of our quest to unravel the human genome. It’s the story of a long lineage of scientists—from Mendel, to Darwin, Watson, Crick, and countless others—and their efforts to understand the workings of the very threads of our existence. But how, Mukherjee wonders, can we best apply that knowledge? And what does it mean to be human when we can read and write our own genetic information

Why is it that we care for the dead? The philosopher Diogenes suggested that his corpse simply be tossed over the city wall, but it’s an idea that seems unthinkable. Historian Thomas Laqueur says bodies matter because we’ve decided they do - from prehistoric times, regardless of faith or creed. Laqueur’s book explores the ways we’ve ritualized and remembered the dead throughout history. Friday, he joins Doug to explain how our relationship to the dead has helped shape the modern world.

Even in his lifetime, George Armstrong Custer was controversial. He was ambitious and flamboyant as well as courageous and talented. Though largely remembered for his death at the Little Bighorn, T.J. Stiles' paints a fuller picture of Custer's colorful and complicated life. Stiles says Custer lived at a “frontier in time.” He helped usher in the modern American era, but couldn't quite adapt to the modernity he helped create. Stiles joins us Thursday to talk about his book "Custer's Trials."

A few years ago, Paul Tough wrote a book about new research showing that character traits like grit, self-control, and optimism are critical to a child’s success. Tough’s latest book builds on that research by explaining how to put it into practice. He argues that a child’s home and school environments are the principle barriers to his or her success. Improve the environment, Tough says, and you can improve the child. He joins us Wednesday to explain his theory of helping children succeed.

When a mixed martial arts studio moved in across the street from literary scholar Jonathan Gottschall’s office, the timing couldn’t have been better. Gottschall was in a mid-life crisis; he was out of shape and his academic career was stalling. So joining the gym was personal, but he was also fascinated by these questions: Why do men fight and why do we like to watch? Tuesday, Gottschall joins Doug to talk about his experience in the cage, and about violence and the rituals that contain it.

Monday, we're joined by University of Utah professor Paul Reeve to talk about his book Religion of a Different Color. In it, he explores how America's Protestant white majority characterized Mormons as racial outsiders in the 19th century. Protestants were convinced that members of the country's newest religion were not merely a theological departure from the mainstream, they were racially and physically different. Medical doctors even supported the claim. Reeve says the LDS church responded to

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood . . .” Those are the first words to Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken." One hundred years after their publication, Frost’s immortal lines remain unbelievably popular. The poem seems straightforward enough: it's about boldly living outside conformity, right? Wrong, says poetry columnist David Orr. He says nearly everyone hopelessly misreads Frost's poem. Orr joins us Friday as we explore the meaning of "The Road Not Taken" and the history behind it.