IntroductionIn the autumn of 1843, the most famous writer in England was nearly broke.Charles Dickens was 31. His latest novel was selling badly, his publishers were threatening to cut his pay, his father was draining his bank account, and his wife was expecting their fifth child. That year he had also read government reports on children working in mines and … [Read more...] about Walking With Dickens: The Night He Wrote A Christmas Carol
Max Amini for President? Can Love Unite a Divided America?
Introduction What if four comedians from different backgrounds sat down to answer a question that politicians have struggled with for generations: Why do we hate people we've never met?It began with a joke.Iranian-American comedian Max Amini was asked what he thought of the American president. Instead of taking a political side, he declared that his job was … [Read more...] about Max Amini for President? Can Love Unite a Divided America?
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy: Experts Debate Love and Hope
Introduction When Love Isn't Enough: What Wild Dark Shore Asks Us to ConfrontHow far would you go to protect someone you love?Would you break the law? Hide the truth? Sacrifice your own happiness?Would you give your life?And what if the very things you did out of love ended up hurting the people you were trying to protect?In Charlotte McConaghy's Wild Dark … [Read more...] about Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy: Experts Debate Love and Hope
Marcus Aurelius on Love, Grief, and His Son: A Night on the Danube
Introduction He was the most powerful man in the world, and he spent his nights writing notes to himself about humility.Marcus Aurelius ruled Rome from 161 to 180, through fifteen years of plague, a decade of war on the Danube frontier, the betrayal of his best general, and the deaths of most of his children. He never wanted the throne. At sixteen, when he … [Read more...] about Marcus Aurelius on Love, Grief, and His Son: A Night on the Danube
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy: Characters Speak
Introduction What if the people we lost could return for one conversation, not to say goodbye again, but to tell us how they really felt?In Charlotte McConaghy's Wild Dark Shore, a father and his three children live on a remote island near Antarctica, protecting a seed vault containing some of the world's most precious plant species.The ocean is rising. … [Read more...] about Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy: Characters Speak
Putin, Zelensky, Trump & Jesus: Can They End the War?
IntroductionWhat if Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky, Donald Trump, and Jesus sat together in a private room, determined to find a way to end the war in Ukraine?Putin arrives believing Russia's security and historical grievances must be addressed.Zelensky comes carrying the responsibility of defending a country whose families have endured invasion, destruction, … [Read more...] about Putin, Zelensky, Trump & Jesus: Can They End the War?
Hard Times Create Strong Men: G. Michael Hopf’s Cycle Challenged
Introduction Hard Times Create Strong People: Can We Break the Cycle?What if the greatest achievement of a strong generation isn't teaching its children how to suffer, but teaching them how to become strong without suffering?You've probably heard the famous saying:Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And … [Read more...] about Hard Times Create Strong Men: G. Michael Hopf’s Cycle Challenged
Swedenborg Imagined Interview: What Happens When We Die
Introduction What if one of the most respected scientists of the eighteenth century told you he’d spent the last twenty-seven years of his life visiting heaven and hell, and could prove it?Emanuel Swedenborg was a Swedish nobleman, a mining engineer for the king, an inventor who sketched a flying machine in 1714, and an anatomist who studied the brain … [Read more...] about Swedenborg Imagined Interview: What Happens When We Die
Carl Jung Imagined Interview: Synchronicity, Shadow, and God
Introduction Have you ever had a coincidence so precise it felt like an answer?Most of us have. A name that comes up three times in one day. A book that falls open to the exact page you needed. We usually shrug it off. Carl Jung didn’t. He gave those moments a name, synchronicity, and spent his life insisting they meant something.Jung was a Swiss … [Read more...] about Carl Jung Imagined Interview: Synchronicity, Shadow, and God
Shakespeare Imagined Interview: Hamnet, Hamlet, and Grief
Introduction What would you say to the greatest writer who ever lived, if you could ask him one question no one has ever dared to ask?I’ve wanted to sit down with William Shakespeare for years. But I didn’t fully understand why until this year, when my youngest son left for university. The house grew quiet. And I kept thinking about a father, four hundred … [Read more...] about Shakespeare Imagined Interview: Hamnet, Hamlet, and Grief