To The Best of Our Knowledge

If you live in a consumer economy like ours, it's buy, buy, buy all year long. In the next hour -- advertisers' dreams of a commercial Christmas, year-round. Also, opening the brand-name package, and the life on an American Empress -- Marjorie Merriweather Post. 95-12-24-C

Oliver Stone's "Nixon" is out on video now, still receiving rants from the family and raves from the critics. But is it good history? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge - the movies and their place in American society. A couple of views of Stone's movies, along with talk of movies and violence. And some intimate words about the master director Federico Fellini. 95-12-31-A

Name your poison. Drugs, alcohol, gambling? Sex, computer games, coffee. In this final installment of our series on addiction -- the addictive society. Also novel Mark Helprin declines even decaf, at three on To the Best of Our Knowledge. (96-08-04-A)

Copernicus concluded that the universe does not revolve around us, but the Copernican revolution is not complete. This afternoon on To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll find our place in the universe, discover other planets, and search for the "local fluff." Also -- what Shakespeare saw in the stars.(96-08-04-B)

White settlers leave the East behind and set off into a vast virgin landscape; the brave Cavalry routs the red savages; the heroic sheriff shoots any lingering bad guys and there's peace in the valley. Right? Wrong! Tune in for To the Best of Our Knowledge, as we re- examine America's frontier myths, this afternoon at three. (96-08-04-C)

Is America's adolescent crush on self-help and pyschology about to develop into a full-fledged love affar? Fifty years as a growth industry suggests psychotherapy had better grow up and take some adult responsibility. Experts suggest it's time selfishness was replaced with moral vigor, and both patients and their analysts need to take part.(95-05-21-B)

Popular Poetry in the next hour, so stay tuned for the comeback of the bards. From Dante to Jabberwocky, from rap artists to gift-wrapped editions, find out why more people are buying, and reading, and listening to poetry.(95-04-09-C)

As Republicans debate their platform -- is God on their side? This afternoon after three on To the Best of Our Knowledge, drawing the line between religion and politics. The Christian Coalition's Ralph Reed proclaims America a Christian Nation., while a historian says the Constitution is Godless.(96-08-11-A)

The Amazon rain forest is Nature's great treasure chest - rich in biodiversity, but it's fast disappearing. This afternoon after three on To the Best of Our Knowledge, the fight to save the ecology - and culture - of the rain forest. Also, one man's incredible odyssey to find a nearly extinct Amazonian tribe. (96-08-11-B)

What's your favorite memory of traveling around the world? Breathing recycled airplain air and trying to replace your walking shoes before crossing the border to Paraguay? Or sinking deep into your favorite armchair to share a good writer's adventures? It's literary travel, this afternoon after three on To the Best of Our Knowledge.(96-08-11-C)

In Italy, a former Prime Minister stands trial for mob collusion. In New York, the Feds b ust a crooked fish market. In Russia, a new mafia is taking the reins. In this hour, the dawn of a new mafia era.(96-01-07-A)

Catching neutrinos, surfing the internet, and checking the climate tens of thousands of years ago. Not to mention skating, luging, and playing dangerous games. It's the uses of ice! The South Pole, Greenland, and more, in the next hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge. (96-01-07-B)

The middle class is shrinking, and the rich are growing richer. Who are the new power elite, and how did they get there? In this hour, social observers dub them the "meritocracy," and wonder - does their gain mean our loss? Also, a trip from the streets to the classroom, dreaming big in Harlem, and Gor Vidal on our leaders and the American Dream. (95-11-26-A)

Are you looking for a new reason to worry? New research says young children who don't take music lessons may have a hard time with spatial relationships -- and even mathematics. So practicing piano could actually make kids smarter? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge -- the new science of mental ability. Also an argument for emotional intelligence -- your ability to get along may the most important ability of all.(95-11-12-B)

Media celebrities may be the only people Americans despise more than politicians. Journalism's in trouble and if it goes, it could take our democracy with it. The new enemy is not the CIA or the Imperial Presidency, it's the clout of corporate America. Is ther still room in the news business for the crusading journalist? What about the Pentagon papers? Could they be published now? Would anybody care? It's the state of the Fourth Estate, on this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge.(96-02-04-C)

In the next hour we'll celebrate those strange and singular souls -- eccentrics. They're not crazy -- in fact, they're saner than most people, even if they keep diaries of forty million words, or walk invisible dogs every day for twenty-five years, or run museums where nothing is what is seems from the jungle plant spores to the human horns. Suspend your disbelief and stay with us.(96-01-07-C)

Freedom is America's most celebrated virtue, celebrated from the Declaration of Independence to the triumph over fascism. It's denial has led to our most shameful moments, from slavery to the internment of Japanese-Americans. But what IS freedom? In this afternoon's To the Best of Our Knowledge, a fresh look at an ambiguous concept. Also -- does race consciousness promote freedom -- or tarnish it?(96-01-14-A)

While kids heading back to school worry about long division, their parents worry about the future of the schools. Are the schools broken? and if so, how do we fix them? Some new proposals call for computers instead of classrooms, and CEO's instead of principals. Also, celebrating teachers, coast to coast, this afternoon after three.(95-09-17-A)

A few years ago organic gardens and solar houses were for the nuts on the fringe, now you're on the fringe if you don't pay attention. In this hour, why "sustainability" may become the buzzword for the 21st Century.(95-11-26-B)

The debate is simmering over proposed National Standards for teaching history in our schools - but the question "who owns history" just won't go away. From to museums to battlefields to the classroom, the stories of our past shape our childrens' future. Join us for the ins and outs of historical interpretation, on To the Best of Our Knowledge. (95-11-12-C)

No mountain is too high, no ocean too deep, to stop science in its pursuit of the unknown. But why are scientists willing to go to extremes to uncover life's mysteries? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we'll entertain answers from an archaeologist who met a 500 year old ice girl, and a marine biologist who keeps sinking, deeper and deeper. Also a new discovery reveals a friend on the lip of a lobster.(96-01-14-B)

In your mind's eye you're a supermodel. But in the eyes of the world, you're pure spuds and a six-pack. Or, picture this, you have the face of an angel and the physique of a god, but you're paralyzed from the neck down. Or maybe you're okay, but you think there's really something wrong with smokers, and all those fat people who don't even work out. It's healthism and real bodies, this afternoon on To the Best of Our Knowledge. (96-01-14-C).