Ideas

In a powerful act of remembrance, a group of Canadians participated in a pilgrimage to the Netherlands to commemorate their fathers, grandfathers and uncles who helped to liberate the country from the Nazis. Producer Alisa Seigel shares their journey. *This episode originally aired on May 1, 2023.

The 'culture wars' have been a staple of modern politics for decades now. They are especially entrenched within Christian communities. Philosopher and author James K. A. Smith has a radical prescription to move beyond this: the church needs more mystics. 

The Cultural Revolution is everywhere felt in China today, but rarely if ever talked about openly. But prize-winning historian Tania Branigan tries to fill in the historical silences with voices both past and present in her book, Red Memory.

The book may well be the greatest invention since the wheel, according to author Irene Vallejo. She traces the history of this miraculous invention with a book of her own, Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World.

John Vaillant details the terrifying growth and destructive force of the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire in his award-winning book, Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast. He unpacks how fire made humans who we are — and how humans are changing fire. Vaillant says we're changing the climate "in a way that favours fire way more than it favours us."

Leonard Moore has long taught popular courses on American history at McGill University. His retirement lecture is full of insight — and worries — about the deep polarization in the United States. He argues history has its lessons, but it’s still an open question whether they’ll be learned.

In his 2009 CBC Massey Lectures, The Wayfinders, anthropologist Wade Davis explored how the modern world can learn from Indigenous peoples. From the navigational skills of Polynesian sailors to the healing properties of plants, there is old knowledge we can all learn from. IDEAS revisits Davis' 5th Massey Lecture. Go to cbc.ca/ideas to listen to the full series.

Anthropologist Wade Davis has spent a lifetime exploring our planet. In his 2009 CBC Massey Lectures, The Wayfinders, he takes the reader and the listener on a journey through the wonders of the natural world, as they are seen and experienced by Indigenous peoples. Davis revisits his lectures in conversation with IDEAS producer Philip Coulter at Massey College.

Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel may be one of the most exalted works of art in the world. In her book All Things Move: Learning to Look in the Sistine Chapel, Canadian writer and Rome resident Jeannie Marshall probes the power of art to move us and transcend the historical and religious contexts that shaped it. *This episode originally aired on June 13, 2023.

The Dene fight for self-determination and sovereignty has deep historic ties to liberation efforts around the globe. Yellowknives Dene author and scholar Glen Coulthard traces those influences — and how they shape our current political moment.