Who are we? Why are we here? What is the best way to live? These are among the questions related to the human condition that people have long asked—and answered—through story.

The stories we tell ourselves are central to how we engage in the world around us. Stories help us make sense of the world, tell us who we are, why we’re here, and define our purpose for existence. Stories empower us to learn from the experiences, successes, and failures of others, and can guide us as we make difficult choices in our own lives. They can entertain us, instruct us, and, above all, connect us—to the world, to people in other times and places, to each other, and to our innermost selves. Stories remind us of the remarkable constancy in human nature and the human experience while simultaneously helping us learn and grow.

To examine the connection between the storytelling impulse and our implicit desire to understand our lives and our place in the world, you will go on a globe-spanning, time-travelling, media-traversing tour in the 12 lectures of Storytelling and the Human Condition. Your guide is award-winning journalist, author, and storyteller Alexandra Hudson—founder of Civic Renaissance, a community of lifelong learners, which she invites you to join at Civic-Renaissance.com—who will illuminate the many ways stories shape our lives throughout history and across cultures.