FROM KPR
Shrinking the Earth: Don Worster's New Book
It's a big planet. But in many ways, the whole wide world is shrinking. To find out how and why, you might want to check out a new book called Shrinking the Earth by Don Worster. Or... you could just turn up the radio and listen to this review by Commentator Rex Buchanan.
Ruminating on Kansas' Marital Troubles
Sometimes, despite all the best intentions, a marriage just doesn't work out. Commentator William Jennings Bryan Oleander tells us that, right now... marital woes are the talk of his town.
KPR Presents: John Avlon & Margaret Hoover
John Avlon is editor-in-chief of "The Daily Beast," a regular contributor to CNN and author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics. His wife, Margaret Hoover, is also a CNN contributor, author of American Individualism: How a New Generation Can Save the Republican Party, and the great-granddaughter of President Herbert Hoover. Avlon and Hoover spoke at Kansas State University's Landon Lecture Series.
FROM NPR
National Park Service centennial
The National Park Service is celebrating its 100th anniversary. NPR spends time with Great Smoky Mountains National Park workers to explore the work the park service does and the challenges it faces.
Churchill Downer: The Forgotten Racial History Of Kentucky's State Song
Every year at the Kentucky Derby, crazy hat-wearing, mint julep-guzzling horse-gazers break into a passionate rendition of Kentucky's state song, "My Old Kentucky Home." But Frank X Walker, Kentucky's former poet laureate, suspects that most people are missing the point.
A Portrait Of The President, One Commencement Speech At A Time
President Obama delivered the commencement address at Rutgers University in New Jersey, on the 250th anniversary of the school's founding. It's one of the last times Obama will speak to a graduating class while he's in office. But it's by no means his first. In fact, the president has delivered nearly two dozen commencement speeches over the past seven years. A look back at that collection of commencement remarks helps reveal the problems and promises of the days they were delivered.