Every week, more or less, and at our other website (www.miltrosenberg.com), we post five or six “classics” from the only radio program that ever got its proprietor the National Humanities Medal. That was in an East Room ceremony with President George W. The occasion thrilled my two grandchildren as much as it gratified me to know that thoughtful and intelligent conversation, often with a conservative tilt, is valued. The ultimate proof of that was not the award but the persistently high ratings. That long-running program has now given way to our weekly podcasts with contemporaries worth talking and listening to.

But in response to the thousands of requests (yes, literally) for a lasting archive we have been putting up five or six of the prior programs each week. A few hundred are now available for streaming or downloading and we will soon be adding ten new “classics” every week.

All of the foregoing is prelude to this week’s list which follows directly.

The Human Brain and What it has Learned About Itself: two very accomplished and innovative neuroscientists conduct the tour.

Tom Wicker Remembers his Presidents: that goes from Eisenhower to George W. Bush as Tom ran the paper’s Washington Bureau and columnized about national affairs, achievements, follies and disgraces.

The Creation of the Oxford  English Dictionary:  Simon Winchester, did a great book, rich with anecdote and surprise (including  the mad man and murderer who helped the presiding genius who brought the whole thing off) and we were tempted to title this discussion “The Romance of Lexicography”…but didn’t.

The Peloponnesian War  and the Nature of War Itself: After Thucydides the relevant and available (for great conversation) scholar was–and remains–Donald Kagan, Professor of History at Yale. Apparently the  triad of “Interest, Safety and Honor” still prevails and, as we discuss, has considerable bearing upon why and how wars are still fought.

Lincoln and Darwin: the fact that they were born on the very same day–within hours of one another—fascinated Adam Gopnick of New Yorker Magazine who went on to discover much more that binds them together conceptually and which we discussed in this extended conversation.

If you want to sample any or all of these programs and, for that matter, any of the many other  classics now available just go to  www.miltrosenberg.com.

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