COVER STORY
Colonialism
Kurt Andersen and the novelist Jessica Hagedorn look at the cultural legacies of colonialism.

Indian Brass
When the British withdrew from India in the late 1940s, they left behind railroads, cricket, and...tubas. Rob Weisberg explains how the brass instruments cast off by the British Army have become an integral part of India's musical culture.
Visit the Shyam Brass band website
Visit the Bollywood Brass Band website
Visit the Kawa Brass Band website
Buy Disco Bhangra: Wedding Bands From Rajasthan
Buy Fanfare du Rajasthan from the Jaipur Kawa Brass Band
Buy Brass Baja by Gregory Booth

Heart of Darkness
The Vietnam War movie Apocalypse Now probably stands as the great epic about American imperialism. It's based closely on an older tale about what happens when powerful intruders bring their ideas about civilization to a foreign land: Joseph Conrad's 1899 novel Heart of Darkness. The book is set in an unnamed colony in Africa that is a lot like the Congo Free State, the Belgian-run human rights disaster. Brad Tytel found out why the book still ignites passions. Selections from Conrad are read by John Boyle.
Visit the Joseph Conrad Society of America
Read a biography of Joseph Conrad
Buy the critical edition of Heart of Darkness, with background and sources
Buy Books by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o
Buy King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild
Buy Conrad in the Twenty-First Century, co-edited by Andrea White

Picture Postcards
Before the airplane, trips abroad were big undertakings, and if you went overseas you'd want evidence that you were really there. So you sent a postcard. And for some odd reason, we still do. Jake Warga explains how the little souvenirs once had big consequences.
Visit the 2005 University of Washington conference on Colonialism: Germany in the Pacific islands
View more Polynesian Postcards

SPECIAL GUESTS
Jessica Tarahata Hagedorn
Jessica Hagedorn is a novelist, poet, playwright, and performance artist. Her work is steeped in the history of the Philippines and her experience as an Asian-American. Hagedorn was born in Manila just after American control ended, and moved to San Francisco at age 13; she was published as a poet just a couple of years later. Her books include Dogeaters, Gangster of Love, Charlie Chan is Dead, and Dream Jungle, which deals with the filming of Apocalypse Now and the discovery of an unknown tribe in the mountains of the Philippines.
Go to an online interview with Jessica Hagedorn
Go to a review of Dream Jungle
Buy Dream Jungle
Purchase other books by Jessica Hagedorn

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Aha moment: Matisyahu
Reggae music often draws on Old Testament mythology about the exodus and the promised land, but in America its fans are usually pretty secular. A singer named Matisyahu is changing that. He's a Hasidic Jew, and his shows are packed with young Orthodox men as well as dreadlocked hippies. Matisyahu explains how he got on the roundabout path from suburban high school dropout to devout Jewish wailer.
Go to Matisyahu's record label Or Music
Go to Hasidicreggae.com
Buy Matisyahu, Live at Stubbs

Rumsfeld Goes to Star Wars
Revenge of the Sith opens this weekend and by Christmas the complete DVD box set of all six Star Wars movies will hit the store shelves. We imagine a commentary track about waging war for a righteous cause by the people who know -- Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell. Here's an exclusive sneak preview of their (fictional) recording session. Written by Jeff Alexander and Tom Bissell, and produced by Derek John
Go to the official Star Wars website
Listen to a previous story on Tom Bissell and Jeff Alexander's work
More commentaries from Tom Bissell and Jeff Alexander

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