WYPL Book Talk

Sebastian Junger - War

Tune into Book Talk this Saturday evening as Stephen Usery interviews Sebastian Junger about his new best-selling book, War, a look at a year in the life of a United States Army company stationed in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan, which has the highest casualty rate for any outpost in the country. Not intended as a political view of the war, it's a grunt's-eye-view of battle in some of the toughest terrain on Earth. Sebastian Junger on Book Talk this Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m. on FM89.3 WYPL Memphis.

Sam McLeod - Big Appetite

Stephen Usery interviews Sam McLeod about his hilarious new memoir, Big Appetite:My Southern Fried Search For the Meaning of Life. As adult Sam drives across county to attend a neighborhood reunion in Nashville, he reflects back on his family, neighbors, and not least of all, the delicious food of his childhood years in central Tennessee.

Glenn Taylor - The Marrowbone Marble Factory

Stephen Usery interviews Glenn Taylor about his second critically-acclaimed novel, The Marrowbone Marble Factory. It's a intriguing look at post- World War II West Virginia, dealing with race, class, and the conflict of traditional mountain life with the coming space age.

Nathaniel Philbrick - The Last Stand

Stephen Usery interviews National Book Award-Winner Nathaniel Philbrick about his latest best-seller, The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn. In addition to a remarkably detailed recounting of the two-day battle, The Last Stand looks at Sitting Bull and George Armstrong Custer's careers leading up to their fight and the effect to their legacies in the 134 years since The Last Stand.

Karl Marlantes - Matterhorn

Stephen Usery interviews Karl Marlantes about his New York Times bestselling debut novel Matterhorn. A searing look at futility, racism, and the changing nature of American military missions, Matterhorn is one of the finest fiction debuts in recent memory.

Hampton Sides - Hellhound on His Trail

Stephen Usery interviews Memphis native Hampton Sides about his latest best-seller Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin. It follows James Earl Ray starting with his escape from a Missouri prison in 1967 until his capture a few months after the murder of Dr. King.

Reif Larsen - The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet

Stephen Usery interviews Reif Larsen about his debut novel, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet. Brand new in paperback, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet is about a 12 year-old map maker whose incessant diagramming of the world around him leads him on an amazing journey from his home ranch in Montana to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. There's a bonus of sixteen minutes of conversation on the podcast!

Ace Atkins - Infamous

Stephen Usery interviews Ace Atkins about his latest historical crime novel, Infamous. Infamous is the darkly humorous story of Memphis-native George "Machine Gun" Kelly, his wife Kathryn, and the kidnapping of an Oklahoma City oil baron that draws the unwanted attention of J. Edgar Hoover and his Bureau of Investigation.

Norris Church Mailer - A Ticket to the Circus

Stephen Usery interviews novelist Norris Church Mailer about her memoir A Ticket to the Circus, which follows her childhood in small-town Arkansas, life as a high school art teacher, and her more than thirty-year relationship with her husband, the late Norman Mailer.

Keith Thomson - Once a Spy

Stephen Usery interviews Huffington Post blogger and international security expert Keith Thomson about his espionage thriller Once a Spy.

Rheta Grimsley Johnson - Enchanted Evening Barbie and the Second Coming

Stephen Usery interviews nationally-syndicated columnist and author Rheta Grimsley Johnson about her new memoir Enchanted Evening Barbie and the Second Coming. Also, she will be appearing at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library on Mother's Day, May 9th, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. For more information call LINC at 415-2700.

Brad Watson - Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives

Stephen Usery interviews Brad Watson about his new short story collection Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives. Mississippi-native Watson has won the Sue Kaufmann Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Award. Download the podcast today.

Linda Fairstein - Hell Gate

Stephen Usery interviews Linda Fairstein about her latest Alexandra Cooper novel Hell Gate. Manhattan prosecutor Cooper and her homicide detective partner Mike Chapman investigate the deaths surrounding a human trafficking shipment of Ukrainians and a political scandal that has turned deadly which echoes a crime committed in America's earliest days.

Molly Caldwell Crosby - Asleep

 

Stephen Usery interviews Molly Caldwell Crosby about her book Asleep: The Forgotten Epidemic That Remains One of Medicine's Greatest Mysteries.

 

Roy Morris, Jr. - Lighting out for the Territories

Stephen Usery interviews the editor of Military Heritage magazine, Roy Morris, Jr. about his last look at nineteenth century America with Lighting Out for the Territory: How Samuel Clemens Headed West and Became Mark Twain.

Richard Bausch - Something is out There

Stephen Usery interviews PEN/Malamud-winner Richard Bausch about his latest collection of short stories, Something Is Out There.

Elizabeth Kostova - The Swan Thieves

Stephen Usery interviews best-selling author Elizabeth Kostova about her new novel, The Swan Thieves. It follows psychiatrist Andrew Marlow as he tries to discover why painter Robert Oliver tried to attack a painting in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

Amy Greene - Bloodroot

Stephen Usery interviews Amy Greene about her New York Times best-selling debut novel Bloodroot, which follows four generations of women in the Smoky Mountains of east Tennessee.

Jeffrey Jackson - Paris Underwater

Stephen Usery interviews Rhodes College professor Jeffrey Jackson about his latest look into French history with Paris Underwater: How the City of Light Survived the Great Flood of 1910. It's an intriguing look on how many with very real political and economic differences came together and endured one of the River Seine's worst floods ever.

Kimberla Lawson Roby - Be Careful What You Pray For

Stephen speaks to best selling author Kimberla Lawson Roby about the second book to follow Alicia Black, the daughter of Reverend Curtis Black, in Be Careful What You Pray For.