This season, a host of new books and movies tell us that the end of the world (or at least modern civilization) is on its way. Journalist Daniel Pinchbeck explains how an ancient Mayan prophecy convinced him. And Cormac McCarthy’s bleak novel The Road takes the apocalypse out of the hands of science-fiction writers. We’ll also hear a performance by New York theater sensation Iris Bahr and from the man millions of French people know as the voice of Samuel Jackson.