How The States Got Their Shapes; Love and Death; Tinsel Tales: NPR Christmas Favorites
How The States Got Their Shapes
Ever wonder why Michigan has two parts that aren't attached to each other, or why a little sliver of West Virginia runs up between Pennsylvania and Ohio, or why tiny bits of Delaware are connected to New Jersey rather than the rest of Delaware? We've been looking at the map of the United States since childhood so, unconventional as many of the states' borders are, they seem natural to us. Larry talks with Mark Stein, author of "How the States Got Their Shapes," about the historical and geographical reasons our states' boundaries became the jigsaw puzzle we take for granted.
Love and Death
In the fall of 2007, Forrest Church, a pastor at New York's All Souls Unitarian Church, discovered he had terminal cancer. A writer or editor of twenty three books, he decided to write one more: "Love and Death: My Journey Through the Valley of the Shadow," chronicling the last days of his life. As a pastor, he had overseen funerals and dealt with many grieving families. In this book, he deals with death again... from the other side of the equation. Larry talks to Church about a subject we all try to avoid.
Tinsel Tales: NPR Christmas Favorites
Hour 2 of AirTalk was pre-empted today for "Tinsel Tales: NPR Christmas Stories."