Juhea Kim's debut novel, Beasts of a Little Land, is about Korea's decades-long fight for independence and the lives it impacted. Kim wanted the novel to focus on people who often get overlooked, which is why one of the main characters in the novel is a courtesan, or a sex worker. Kim told NPR's Elissa Nadworny that "these characters show how we can live in a meaningful way, even when the world is falling apart, even when the sky is falling down."
Amanda Holmes reads A. R. Ammons’s poem “Winter Scene.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.
This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu passed away at the age of 90 at the end of 2021. We look back at his legacy by revisiting his 2010 book Made For Goodness. Even after decades of fighting apartheid and seeing the cruelty people were capable of, he still believed that humans were mostly good at their core. Tutu told NPR's Renee Montagne that he was constantly bowled over by people's willingness to forgive.
Princess Olga of Kiev was a 10th-century woman who was born to a royal family and married to Igor, Prince of Kiev.
She led a fairly unnoteworthy life until her husband was murdered by a neighboring tribe. After that, her life took a turn and she became the patron saint……of vengeance.
Learn more about Olga of Kiev, how she brought Christianity to Russia, and how she wreaked vengeance upon her enemies, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
It was the single most sacred object in the Jewish faith. According to the bible, it was an object of incredible power that could win battles. It was the entire reason why the temple in Jerusalem was built.
Then…it just disappeared and it was never mentioned again.
Since then it has become an object of mystery capturing the attention of explorers, adventurers, and even Indiana Jones.
Learn more about the Ark of the Covenant on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
