Accessibility links
Defining a Moment in History So many Americans say this is a decisive moment in our political history. But what about other endeavors? From military history to science and culture, how do we know what's really historic -- and what's not? We discuss how to define the moment.

Defining a Moment in History

Heard on Talk of the Nation

Defining a Moment in History

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/4138921/4138922" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

So many Americans say this is a decisive moment in our political history. But what about other endeavors? From military history to science and culture, how do we know what's really historic -- and what's not? We discuss how to define the moment.

Guests:

Victor Davis Hanson, military historian, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution; retired classics professor, California State University in Fresno

Michael Eric Dyson, professor of Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania; author, Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X and I May Not Get There With You: The True Martin Luther King Jr.

Jean Bethke Elshtain, author, Just War Against Terror : The Burden of American Power in a Violent World; University of Chicago ethics professor

Ray Kurzweil, scientist, futurist; author of Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough To Live Forever