The Gun Show

There seems to be little common ground between Second Amendment stalwarts and advocates of gun control. Is it simply a difference in ideology? A culture clash? Or something even more complicated?

Alexander Rose, who was raised in Australia and Britain, has written a "biography" of the American rifle. Rose examines the specific role of the rifle in U.S. history and theorizes that the American psyche is melded to the frontier spirit of independence that the firearm can represent. Rose talks about the rifle and the roots of the NRA, which may be surprising to some.

LISTEN: ALEXANDER ROSE - THE AMERICAN RIFLE & THE NRA

Rose says the approach to guns differs from East to West. The historian suggests that it's no mistake Americans developed the "marksman's" M-16 while the easy-to-use AK-47 has spread to be a symbol of insurgent armies.

LISTEN: ALEXANDER ROSE - AMERICA, THE RIFLE & HISTORY

Photographer Kyle Cassidy searches for compelling subjects for his portrait work. For his project ARMED AMERICA, Cassidy sought out gun owners to pose with their guns. Cassidy says he learned a great deal the differences between how people who proudly own firearms think...and how others might think about them.

LISTEN: KYLE CASSIDY - ARMED AMERICA

Getting a Picture of Lincoln

There is perhaps no more recognizable American face than that of Abraham Lincoln. And yet Philip Kunhardt III thinks there is more to be learned from looking at the 16th President's image.

Kunhardt and his family have collected and curated historical photographs for five generations. The Meserve-Kunhardt Foundation contains a massive collection of pictures from the 19th and 20th centuries. Over the years Philip Kunhardt has studied photographs of Lincoln in the collection and outside of it in great detail. The new book LINCOLN, LIFE SIZE, edited by the Kundhardts, takes photographs of Lincoln, familiar and more obscure, and blows them up for life-sized detail.

LISTEN: PHILIP KUNHARDT III - LINCOLN IN PHOTOS