A nation grounded in fiction, rather than reality, cannot function.

Best-selling author and historian Thomas Cahill talks to Bill in a wide-ranging conversation covering everything from the bubonic plague to Christopher Columbus to the nature of human progress.

Read an excerpt from historian Joyce Appleby's latest book: Shores of Knowledge: New World Discoveries and the Scientific Imagination.

The historian explains how a fascination with America led curiosity-driven Europeans to move beyond church dogma in the pursuit of knowledge that reshaped their understanding of the world.

In this classic interview, Louise Erdrich and Michael Dorris -- each half-Native American -- talk about their collaboration to tell the true story of Christopher Columbus.