WYPL Book Talk

Chuck Thompson - The Status Revolution, Part Two

 

 

Chuck Thompson has appeared on Book Talk for his three previous titles, Smile When You’re Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer, To Hellholes and Back: Bribes, Lies, and the Art of Extreme Tourism, and Better Off Without ’Em: A Northern Manifesto for Southern Secession. Today, we have the second of a two-part interview about his most recent book: The Status Revolution: The Improbable Story of How the Lowbrow Became the Highbrow which is published by Simon and Schuster, and we’ll also talk about the recent documentary he wrote about soft rock called, Sometimes When We Touch, which is streaming on Paramount Plus. 

 

Chuck Thompson - The Status Revolution, Part One

 

Chuck Thompson has appeared on Book Talk for his three previous titles, Smile When You’re Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer, To Hellholes and Back: Bribes, Lies, and the Art of Extreme Tourism, and Better Off Without ’Em: A Northern Manifesto for Southern Secession.  Today, we have the first of a two-part interview about his most recent book: The Status Revolution: The Improbable Story of How the Lowbrow Became the Highbrow which is published by Simon and Schuster.

 

Andy Davidson - The Hollow Kind

Andy Davidson is an author of literary horror who has garnered much acclaim for his three published novels. The first was In the Valley of the Sun. He visited the WYPL studios in early 2020 to talk about The Boatman's Daughter. Today, he speaks to us from his home in Georgia about his most recent release, The Hollow Kind, which is published MCDxFSG Originals.

Stacy Schiff - The Revoluntionary (Part Two)

Stacy Schiff is a Pulitzer-winning biographer, having won for Véra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov), among her other works are The Witches: Salem, 1692, Cleopatra: A Life, and A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America. Today we have the second of a two-part interview about her most recent biography, in which she returns to the American Revolution, with The Revolutionary, about the life and times of Samuel Adams, which is published by Little, Brown, and Co.

 

Stacy Schiff - The Revolutionary (Part One)

 

Stacy Schiff is a Pulitzer-winning biographer, having won for Véra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov), among her other works are The Witches: Salem, 1692, Cleopatra: A Life, and A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America. Today we have the first of a two-part interview about her most recent biography, in which she returns to the American Revolution, with The Revolutionary, about the life and times of Samuel Adams, which is published by Little, Brown, and Co.

 

Teresa Lim - The Interpreter’s Daughter

Teresa Lim is a journalist originally from Singapore, now living in England. She has recently published in America her debut book, a multigenerational memoir of her family’s journey from Southern China in the late 19th century up to the Japanese invasion of Singapore during World War II, entitled: The Interpreter’s Daughter, and it is available in America from Pegasus. 

 

Aram Goudsouzian - Man on a Mission : James Meredith and the Battle of OLE Miss

Aram Goudsouzian is a professor and the chair of the history department at the University of Memphis. He’s appeared on Book Talk before to discuss his books, King of the Court about NBA legend Bill Russell, Down to the Crossroads: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Meredith March Against Fear, and The Men and the Moment: The Election of 1968 and the Rise of Partisan Politics in America. Today we’ll be talking about his latest project, Man on a Mission:James Meredith and the Battle of Ole Miss, an illustrated graphic history of James Meredith’s attempts to attend The University of Mississippi in the early 1960s during Jim Crow. The illustrator for the book is Bill Murray, and the editor is Vijay Shah, and it is published by The University of Arkansas Press. 

 

Jake S. Friedman - Part Two - The Disney Revolt

Jake S. Friedman is a former animator and current educator, as well as a researcher and writer about the history of animation. His first book was The Art of Blue Sky Studios, and today in the second of a two-part interview, we'll discuss his new book, The Disney Revolt: The Great Labor War of Animation's Golden Age, which is published by Chicago Review Press. 

 

Jake S. Friedman - Part One - The Disney Revolt

Jake S. Friedman is a former animator and current educator, as well as a researcher and writer about the history of animation. His first book was The Art of Blue Sky Studios, and today in the first of a two-part interview, we'll discuss his new book, The Disney Revolt: The Great Labor War of Animation's Golden Age, which is published by Chicago Review Press. 

 

Grant McCracken - Return of the Artisan

Grant McCracken is an anthropologist and author who researches culture and commerce. His previous books include: Culture and Consumption, Plenitude, and Chief Culture Officer. Today we’ll be discussing his most recent title, Return of the Artisan: How America Went from Industrial to Handmade, which is published by Simon Element, an imprint of Simon and Schuster. 

 

Andrew Lownie - Part Two - Traitor King

Andrew Lownie is the founder of the Andrew Lownie Literary Agency, one of the premier literary agencies in Great Britain. In addition to his status as a fellow of the British Historical Society, Andrew has written several non-fiction books, including, The Mountbattens: The Lives and Loves of Dickie and Edwina Mountbatten and Stalin's Englishman: Guy Burgess, the Cold War, and the Cambridge Spy Ring. Today we have the second of a two-part interview discussing his most recent release, Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke & Duchess of Windsor, which is published in America by Pegasus Books. 

 

Andrew Lownie - Part One - Traitor King

Andrew Lownie is the founder of the Andrew Lownie Literary Agency, one of the premier literary agencies in Great Britain. In addition to his status as a fellow of the British Historical Society, Andrew has written several non-fiction books, including, The Mountbattens: The Lives and Loves of Dickie and Edwina Mountbatten and Stalin's Englishman: Guy Burgess, the Cold War, and the Cambridge Spy Ring. Today we have the first of a two-part interview discussing his most recent release, Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke & Duchess of Windsor, which is published in America by Pegasus Books. 

 

Steve Berry - The Omega Factor

Steve Berry has over 25 million books in print in 40 languages. His first three novels were stand-alone thrillers, The Amber Room, The Romanov Prophecy, and Third Secret. In 2006, he began his tremendously successful Cotton Malone Series with The Templar Legacy, with book number 16, The Kasier’s Web having been published in 2021. He even spun off the popular character Cassiopeia Vitt into several stories co-written with MJ Rose. And there have been short stories and contributions to anthologies over the years. The seventeenth Cotton Malone book is scheduled for February of 2023, but today we’ll be discussing his first stand-alone novel since 2012, The Omega Factor which is published by Grand Central.

Mary Laura Philpott - Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and other Explosives

Mary Laura Philpott has appeared on Book Talk for both of her previous books, first in 2015 with her collection of cartoons, Penguins with People Problems. In 2019, we spoke about her collection of personal essays, I Miss You When I Blink. Today we’ll discuss he most recent release, Bomb Shelter: Love, Time, and Other Explosives which is published by Atria Books. 

Lucy Ward - The Empress and the English Doctor, Part 2

We are happy to welcome Lucy Ward back to the program for the second part of our interview. Lucy is a writer and former journalist having written for The Guardian and The Independent. Today, we continue our conversation about her debut book, The Empress and the English Doctor: How Catherine the Great Defied a Deadly Virus, which is published Oneworld Publications and distributed by Simon and Schuster. 

Lucy Ward - The Empress and the English Doctor, Part 1

We are delighted to welcome Lucy Ward to the program for the first of a two-part interview. Lucy is a writer and former journalist having written for The Guardian and The Independent. Today we will begin our conversation about her debut book, The Empress and the English Doctor: How Catherine the Great Defied a Deadly Virus, which is published Oneworld Publications and distributed by Simon and Schuster. 

Dolen Perkins-Valdez - Take My Hand

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the current Chair of the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, as well as an associate professor of English at American University in Washington, D.C. However, for Book Talk listeners, she is a highly respected writer of fiction. Her debut novel was Wench, followed by Balm, and today we’ll be talking about her newest book, Take My Hand, which is published by Berkley. 

 

William Hazelgrove - Greed in the Gilded Age

William Hazelgrove has written over twenty books including, Madam President: the Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson and Al Capone and the 1933 World’s Fair. Today we’ll be talking about his most recent title, Greed in the Gilded Age: The Brilliant Con of Cassie Chadwick which is published by Rowman & Littlefield. 

 

Polly Barton - Fifty Sounds

 

We welcome Polly Barton to the show today. Polly is an author, as well as a Japanese literary translator. She is the author of Fifty Sounds: A Memoir of Language, Learning and Longing which is published by Liveright. Polly is the winner of the 2019 Fitzcarraldo Editions Essay Prize for "Fifty Sounds." She currently resides in Bristol.

 

 

Jared Goldstein - Real Americans - Part 2

 

 

Jared Goldstein is a Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Roger Williams University School of Law. Today, we have the second of our two-part interview about his recently published book, Real Americans: The Problem of Constitutional Nationalism, which is published by University Press of Kansas.