Born in Columbia, Rabbi Juan Mejia was on his way to becoming a monk when he discovered his family’s Jewish roots. Like most anusim, or descendents of Iberian Jews forced to convert to Catholicism during the Inquisition who continued to practice Judaism in secrecy, Rabbi Mejia was unaware of his origins. Now he devotes his life to teaching anusim wherever they may be.

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Norris Church Mailer was a 26-year-old divorced mother and hippie art teacher when 52-year-old Norman Mailer swept her off her feet. Her new book, A Ticket to the Circus, is a bittersweet memoir that depicts her marriage and offers insight into how we grow up and how we love.

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As a teenager, the Alexandria-born author Andre Aciman was forced to leave Egypt, where his family had lived for centuries. For Aciman, loss and the meaning of home have become central themes in his work. latest novel, Eight White Nights, is a poignant love story of unforgettable passion.

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Strout’s Pulitzer-winning Olive Kitteridge binds thirteen luminous short stories into a narrative with the heft of a novel. Through perceptive eyes, Strout exposes the lives of people in a small Maine town for all their grand drama.

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According to author and commentator Reza Aslan, by adopting the same polarizing rhetoric as the jihadists, in the so-called War on Terror, the U.S. is fighting a war that cannot be won. Aslan argues that we must strip this ideological conflict of its religious connotations and address the grievances that fuel the Jihadist movement.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:04 — 25.7MB)