COVER STORY
Utopia
Kurt Andersen and his guest, author Ursula K. Le Guin, discuss utopia.

Elsewhere
Lois Lowry's novel The Giver is read avidly by children and adults alike. The story is about Jonas, a twelve-year-old boy, who lives in what seems to be a perfect community. But Jonas longs to be elsewhere. Hillary Frank speaks to Lois Lowry about The Giver.
Go to Lois Lowry's website
Go to Lois Lowry's publisher

Inverted Utopia
There was a time when Latin American artists believed abstract art could help perfect society. An exhibit called Inverted Utopias, currently running at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, traces this period, which ran from the 1920s to the 1960s. Michael May visits the exhibit and speaks with one artist who, through his artwork, envisioned a better world.
Go to a website about Eduardo Costa's work
Go to the "Inverted Utopias" exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston

Angst Free Music
The Polyphonic Spree is out to change the world with music. The 24 members of this rock orchestra from Dallas sing and play music free of angst and anger. Tim DeLaughter, the group's ringleader, and his wife and band-mate Julie Doyle, explain how they get away with being so positive. Produced by Trent Wolbe.
Go to the Polyphonic Spree's website
Go to this website and watch The Polyphonic Spree video "Light and Day"

SPECIAL GUEST
Ursula Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin is a writer of fantasy and science fiction. Recognized as a major figure in modern literature, her books include The Left Hand of Darkness, the Earthsea series and The Dispossessed, a utopian novel about an idealistic physicist from a poor, dusty planet inhabited by anarchists. Her novel The Gifts will be published in September.
Go to Ursula Le Guin's Website

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Margot Fonteyn in America
In 1949, the British ballerina Margot Fonteyn gave her first performance in America. She enchanted her New York audience, including a young man named Robert Gottlieb. Gottlieb grew up to be a prestigious book and magazine editor (he recently edited Bill Clinton's memoir) but he has continued to be captivated by ballet, and by the magic of Margot Fonteyn Thirty years after editing Fonteyn's biography, he has organized an exhibit at the New York Public Library called Margot Fonteyn in America: A Celebration. Kurt Andersen visits the exhibition with Bob Gottlieb.
Read the Full Text
Go to Fonteyn's Biography on a Ballet Website
Go to the Fonteyn Exhibition at the Performing Arts Library in NYC

Operation Homecoming
People have been telling tales of war since before Homer wrote the Iliad. But rarely has war been documented first-hand by the people fighting. A new program launched by the National Endowment for the Arts is aimed at changing that. In the coming year, a series of writing workshops will be held at military bases across the country. Leda Hartman visits one workshop at Camp Lejeune, the Marine base in North Carolina.
Go to the Operation Homecoming Website

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