Michael Goldfarb tells the story of two American presidents: the luckless President Jimmy Carter and his successor, Ronald Reagan, a man blessed with abundant good fortune. Show more

Michael Goldfarb discusses Presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush, who share the same cultural influences - and flaws - as other born in the years immediately after World War II. Show more

Michael Goldfarb discusses American presidential speeches by Eisenhower, Carter and Obama that have shaped modern American history. Show more

In his series of imaginary correspondences with some of literary history's most celebrated figures, novelist Ian Sansom is writing to a certain Geoffrey Chaucer. Show more

Poet John Burnside explores his fascination with the Sami landscapes of Finnmark in northern Norway, reflecting on how they are shaped by ice as much as rock. Show more

Travel writer Sara Wheeler recalls her time visiting Canada's Arctic region, staying in a tent with a group of geologists. Show more

Geologist and climatologist Gina Moseley describes leading a team of cavers into an unknown system of limestone caverns in northern Greenland. Show more

Daniel Kalder conjures the vast landscapes east of the Urals, where taiga becomes tundra. He describes how Siberia's endless forests give way to ceaseless realms of permafrost. Show more

Jason Mark visits Alaska's remote northern rim, and reflects on the impact of our lust for hydrocarbons. Whilst the ice melts, we search for oil in these northern parts. Show more

Artist and writer Hallgrimur Helgason asks what Kristin Jonsdottir's Fish Processing in Eyjafjord can say when Icelandic culture is primarily verbal. Show more

Mette Moestrup praises the way Pia Arke's Camera Obscura explores the post-colonial relationship between Denmark and Greenland. Show more

Ray Hudson on how Carolyn Reed's Touching Fire shows Alaskans caught between the fire and the sea, between the state's beauty and the race to exploit its material wealth. Show more

Anthropologist and novelist Professor Thomas Hylland Eriksen argues that Oslo's now-demolished Holmenkollen ski-jumping hill was the most important art work in Norway. Show more

Novelist Hanne Orstavik, who lived in Finnmark, the northernmost part of continental Europe, recalls childhood memories of Sami winter solstice legends. Show more

Per Rosenberg discusses the wooden churches of Scandinavia and the symbolic importance of the forest. Show more

Karl Seigfried explores the Nordic Yule myths and why Norse mythology still speaks to people, 1,000 years after the Christian conversion of Scandinavia. Show more

Lars Petter Sveen recalls growing up in an atheist family. Show more

Andrew Brown, who spent part of his childhood in Sweden and married a Swedish woman, recalls his mother-in-law's dedication to keeping the Swedish Christmas traditions alive. Show more

Professor of Islamic studies Mona Siddiqui reflects on what Jesus and Mary represent to Muslims beyond the Christian story of the Incarnation. Show more

Theologian Robert Beckford reflects on the magi as a symbol of cultural inclusion. Show more