Ideas

It's been said that the "revolution" of 1968 failed, but it was a failure that changed the world. Philip Coulter went to Paris to talk to some of the people who were there on May 10 1968, the day of the first big demonstration. Part 1 of a 3-part series.

Students taking to the streets to protest — it looked like a simple thing, fifty years ago in May 1968. But it proved to be the spark that started a conflagration. Thousands of demonstrators turned into hundreds of thousands, barricades were built, cars were burned. Then the workers joined in, and by the middle of May 1968, most of France was on strike. It was a political crisis like no other — and then it evaporated. It's been said that the "revolution" of 1968 failed — but it was a failure that changed the world. Philip Coulter went to Paris to talk to some of the people who were there in May 1968.

As part of ongoing IDEAS coverage of work-related mobility issues throughout Canada and around the world, Paul Kennedy profiles the Montreal neighbourhood of "Little Burgundy". For much of the 20th century, this vibrant, overwhelmingly black community was home to many of the railroad porters who worked on coast-to-coast trains for both Canadian National and Canadian Pacific. By definition, their job description required them to be "away from home" for two weeks at a time.

Students taking to the streets to protest — it looked like a simple thing, fifty years ago in May 1968. But it proved to be the spark that started a conflagration. Thousands of demonstrators turned into hundreds of thousands, barricades were built, cars were burned. Then the workers joined in, and by the middle of May 1968, most of France was on strike. It was a political crisis like no other — and then it evaporated. It's been said that the "revolution" of 1968 failed — but it was a failure that changed the world. Philip Coulter went to Paris to talk to some of the people who were there in May 1968.

There's a lot more happening at a restaurant than simply ordering from a menu and getting your food. Restaurants are sites of self-expression — spaces in which status and distinction are performed and lines between class, race, and gender are reflected and reinforced. Restaurants are also sites of aspiration and transformation. Contributing producers Michelle Macklem and Zoe Tennant discover explore how we've gone from dining in to dining out, and what dining out reveals about our identities.

For decades psychiatry has been asking: what makes a psychopath? The list of possible explanations stretches back over centuries: demonic possession, trace metals in the body, bad mothering, violence on television, birth trauma. In Part 2 of this series, Mary O'Connell returns to an interview she did with a serial killer 20 years ago, to understand what motivated him and what insight can experts give us about the modern-day psychopath.

There's a lot more happening at a restaurant than simply ordering from a menu and getting your food. Restaurants are sites of self-expression — spaces in which status and distinction are performed and lines between class, race, and gender are reflected and reinforced. Restaurants are also sites of aspiration and transformation. Contributing producers Michelle Macklem and Zoe Tennant discover explore how we've gone from dining in to dining out, and what dining out reveals about our identities.

It may be tempting to think human civilization is on the verge of collapse: environmental degradation, the rise in authoritarianism, ballooning income disparities. But Harvard psychologist and linguist Steven Pinker is having none of it. He argues that the Enlightenment has given us so much that we can hardly see it anymore. And he believes it's now time to champion Enlightenment values once again: rationality, verifiability, and above all: the ideal of progress itself.

Students taking to the streets to protest — it looked like a simple thing, fifty years ago in May 1968. But it proved to be the spark that started a conflagration. Thousands of demonstrators turned into hundreds of thousands, barricades were built, cars were burned. It was a political crisis like no other — and then it evaporated. It's been said that the "revolution" of 1968 failed. But it was a failure that changed the world. Part 2 of a 3-part series.

How does a just society reconcile the desire for peace, with the desire, most often by men, for violence? How much does nature stir boys, men, to fight? And to what extent can they control that stirring? Author Daemon Fairless takes IDEAS producer Mary Lynk on a road trip to try and unlock why some men are drawn to violence. They meet up with a science teacher, a MMA fighter, and a serial killer, who are profiled in his new book: Mad Blood Stirring: The Inner Lives of Violent Men.