IDEAS is a deep-dive into contemporary thought and intellectual history. No topic is off-limits. In the age of clickbait and superficial headlines, it's for people who like to think.
225 episodes transcribedThe Cultural Revolution is everywhere felt in China today, but rarely if ever talked about openly. But prize-winning historian Tania Branigan tries to...
Smell has been called the 'Cinderella sense,' capable of inspiring profound admiration if we stop turning our noses at it. Producer Annie Bender exami...
The book may well be the greatest invention since the wheel, according to author Irene Vallejo. She traces the history of this miraculous invention wi...
John Vaillant details the terrifying growth and destructive force of the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire in his award-winning book, Fire Weather: The Maki...
Leonard Moore has long taught popular courses on American history at McGill University. His retirement lecture is full of insight — and worries — abou...
In his 2009 CBC Massey Lectures, The Wayfinders, anthropologist Wade Davis explored how the modern world can learn from Indigenous peoples. From the n...
Anthropologist Wade Davis has spent a lifetime exploring our planet. In his 2009 CBC Massey Lectures, The Wayfinders, he takes the reader and the list...
Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel may be one of the most exalted works of art in the world. In her book All Things Move: Learning to Look...
The Dene fight for self-determination and sovereignty has deep historic ties to liberation efforts around the globe. Yellowknives Dene author and scho...
For many people around the world, Cuban cigars are a luxury. But for Cubans, they’ve symbolized the country’s rich history and culture. Now as an econ...
The cost of food is rising, and more Canadians are having difficulty knowing if they can afford their next meal. IDEAS hears from four leading experts...
Broken violins, cruel love and absent fathers... At the end of the 19th century, Émile Nelligan wrote hundreds of tragic, passionate, sonnets and rond...
On a cold, autumn night a group of women gather for their regular book club. Over snacks, wine and tea, they discuss Alice Munro's work, and how her s...
In a time of rapidly changing politics and never-ending crises, what role can solidarity play in confronting political and social problems to create s...
In 2016 Jennifer Welsh delivered her CBC Massey Lectures, The Return of History — a wake-up call to those of us who may have felt a little too optimis...
With the end of the Cold War, the struggle for peace, equality, and democracy wasn’t settled — it became more complex. As we mark the 60th anniversary...
Our bodies are a great paradox. We are made up of trillions of cells that are both independent and interconnected units of life. IDEAS travels into th...
Freedom and Equality — can societies aim for both at the same time? Author Daniel Chandler argues that they can, with some help from the American poli...
These are anxious times for journalism and democracy. As part of an event hosted by the Samara Centre for Democracy, former news anchor Lisa LaFlamme...
Civility is under threat, authoritarianism and autocrats are on the rise and there's an erosion of institutional trust. Three pre-eminent speakers joi...
