The Impeachers, Ulysses S. Grant, Noah's Flood, Women at Sundance

The Impeachers, Ulysses S. Grant, Noah's Flood, Women at Sundance

Constant Wonder

  • Feb 4, 2020 7:00 pm
  • 1:39:14 mins

The Impeachers Guest: Brenda Wineapple, author, "The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation" Presidential impeachment has occurred throughout our nation’s history, beginning with Lincoln’s infamous successor, Andrew Johnson. Author and historian Brenda Wineapple explains the first US presidential impeachment. The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant Guest: Paul Kahan, author, "The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant: Preserving the Civil War's Legacy" Ulysses S. Grant is often regarded as having one of the worst presidencies in US history, but author and historian Paul Kahan offers a much more nuanced and balanced view of this complicated presidency. In Search of a Witness to Noah's Flood Guest: Hans Sues, Senior Scientist and Curator of Fossil Vertebrates, National Musem of Natural History, Smithsonian Institute The story of an 18th-century man who claimed to have fossil evidence of the Biblical flood. He didn't, but he was still ahead of his time in some important ways.  What Did the Ark Look Like? Guest: Irving Finkel, Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian Artifacts, The British Museum, and author, "The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood" The Noah’s Ark story you grew up with is not the only such story. One flood story, carved on Mesopotamian clay tablets, is about 4,000 years old. But in this story, the boat was an enormous round "coracle." Sundance: Women Taking Control of Their Destinies Producer Tennery Taylor reviews movies form the Sundance Film Festival about women who make their own way in the world, in spite of abuse and oppression. We talk about the Irish drama "Herself," in which a battered mother flees with her two children and concocts a plan to build her own house. Then we go to the Middle East, to "Saudi Runaway," a documentary filmed nearly exclusively on a cell phone by a woman contemplating fleeing the country to escape the stifling rules that restrict women's lives. But she only has a limited window of time. Finally, the winner of the World Cinema Dramatic Feature Grand Jury Award, "Yalda: A Night for Forgiveness," follows a young woman who has accidentally killed her husband and must plead for her life on a national game show. If that sounds weird, it is, for Western audiences, but the directors deliver a thrilling tale with unexpected plot twists.