Every culture is a unique answer to a fundamental question: What does it mean to be human and alive? In The Wayfinders, renowned anthropologist, winner of the prestigious Samuel Johnson Prize, and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Wade Davis leads us on a thrilling journey to celebrate the wisdom of the world's indigenous cultures.

In Polynesia we set sail with navigators whose ancestors settled the Pacific ten centuries before Christ.

...

Anthropological study of the Manus tribe of New Guinea, which was catapulted by the Second World War from a Stone Age culture into the path of modern civilization.

As Lord begins, a Brazilian author is arriving at London's Heathrow airport for reasons he doesn't fully understand. Only aware that he has been invited to take part in a mysterious mission, the Brazilian starts to churn with anxiety. Torn between returning home and continuing boldly forward, he becomes absorbed by fears: What if the Englishman who invited him here proves malign? Maybe he won't show up? Or maybe he'll leave the Brazilian lost and...

"In 1871, five young girls were sent by the Japanese government to the United States. Their mission: learn Western ways and return to help nurture a new generation of enlightened men to lead Japan. Raised in traditional samurai households during the turmoil of civil war, three of these unusual ambassadors-- Sutematsu Yamakawa, Shige Nagai, and Ume Tsuda-- grew up as typical American schoolgirls. Upon their arrival in San Francisco they became celebrities,...

"National Review senior writer Michael Brendan Dougherty delivers a mediation on belonging, fatherhood, and nationalism, through a series of letters to his estranged Irish father. The child of an Irish man and an Irish-American woman who split up soon after he was born, Michael Brendan Dougherty grew up with an acute sense of absence. He loved his mother but longed for his father, who only occasionally returned from Ireland for visits. He was happy...

Jakie Rabinowitz is the son of a Jewish cantor. Turning his back on family tradition, Jakie transforms himself into cabaret-entertainer Jack Robin. When Jack comes home to visit his parents, he is warmly greeted by his mother, but is given the cold-shoulder by his father, who feels that Jack is a traitor to his heritage by singing jazz music. On the eve of his biggest show business triumph, Jack receives word that his father is dying. Out of respect,...

World-renowned anthropologist Wade Davis examines the alarming rate of plant and animal extinction since 1999 and offers suggestions on how to prevent even more harm from being done to the planet's fragile ecosystems. This talk is based on the Massey lectures that Davis gave in Canada in 2009.

Learn about the Silk Roads, a series of networks connecting ancient cultures.