Historian Richard Ivan Jobs talks about the rise of backpacking in Europe after the Second World War. Jobs argues that youth travel helped create a new European culture during the Cold War, contributing to the integration of Europe during the 1960s and 1970s.

Jane Hooper talks about Madagascar and its importance to the history of Indian Ocean trade and exploration. Hooper is the author of Feeding Globalization: Madagascar and the Provisioning Trade, 1600-1800, recently published by Ohio University Press.

Kate Harris -- writer, scientist, and extreme cyclist – talks about the trip she made with her friend Mel, tracing Marco Polo's route across Central Asia and Tibet. The journey is the subject of Harris's new book, Lands of Lost Borders: a Journey on the Silk Road.

Stephan Bullard, associate professor of biology at the University of Hartford, discusses the 2013 Ebola outbreak which is the subject of his new book, A Day to Day Chronicle of the 2013-16 Ebola Outbreak, soon to be released by Springer Press.

Matthew Hersch, author of Inventing the American Astronaut, talks about the origins and evolution of the U.S. astronaut program.