Refuting any connection with overt political goals, Turkish novelist and Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk aims to create stories "as a child, not knowing where I am going next." Yet few writers in the Islamic world are more closely associated with political strife or have sparked as much street-level anger. This program features an interview with the world-renowned author in his Istanbul office, bringing to light his insights into art, oppression, and the...

Painfully familiar with the clash of personal and religious expression, Salman Rushdie can now be seen as a literary sentinel regarding the rise of Islamic extremism. In this program, Bill Moyers talks with the author of Shame, The Satanic Verses, and Shalimar the Clown about the impact of 9/11, about tension between moderate and radical Islam, and about the need to hold the line on fundamentalism even when it leads to personal risk. A reading by...

Imagines a post-apocalyptic war launched by America in retaliation against Islamic extremists who have used nuclear weapons to destroy Los Angeles, Israel, and parts of Europe, a battle that is complicated by anti-Muslim Christian zealots.

Once paganism was seen as an antiquated belief system that modern frameworks had made redundant. Now it is claimed paganism is one of the fastest growing religions in the UK and US. Have the pagan gods of nature given us a new haven for spirituality? Or is it a superficial entertainment for lost westerners? The Panel Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics Eileen Barker, philosopher at the University of London Stephen Law, science...

Iranian TV is officially known as the "Voice and Vision of the Islamic Republic," but with the majority of air-time dedicated to religion, people have their own name for it-"glass wool," a wry reference to the great number of clerics' beards seen through the screen. This film examines television in Iran, with observations from journalists and activists on the divide between government-sanctioned broadcasts and what viewers really want to watch. Satellite...

"From New York Times bestselling author Robert IK. Tanenbaum comes the twentieth and most explosive book in the butch Karp/Marlene Ciampi series. This riveting thriller races from inside the courtroom to the mean streets of Manhattan, as New York District Attorney Roger 'Butch' Karp faces two seemingly different situations that will ultimately prove to be shockingly alike. On the one hand, Karp struggles to make Jessica Campbell, a rabble-rousing...

As he prepares to deliver the State of the Union address, the president of the United States is convinced the Islamic State is on the run, about to be crushed by American forces once and for all. But New York Times foreign correspondent J. B. Collins tells the president he's dead wrong. With the Middle East on fire, the Israeli prime minister dead, and Amman in ruins, Collins fears a catastrophic attack inside the American homeland is imminent. He...

Shahrazad must hold the interest of her despotic husband the sultan with nightly tales, lest she lose her life in the morning. This wellspring of storytelling, circulating from medieval Persia to Egypt to Iraq, like its wily raconteur, lives on in many modern adaptations. Art, performance, and film images are employed to show the collection's broad span of influence. Featured speakers include Marin Alsop, musical director of the Baltimore Symphony...