WYPL Book Talk

Michelle Stacey is a journalist and writer of non-fiction, frequently looking at nutrition and health. Among her previous books are Consumed: Why Americans Love, Hate and Fear Food and The Fasting Girl: A True Victorian Medical Mystery. Today, we'll be discussing her latest Holiday Keto which is published by Centennial Books.

Jenny Colgan is a tremendously successful Scottish novelist, with 35 published books, many of them best sellers, to her credit. She's a versatile writer, having written science fiction, including Doctor Who novels, stand alones, and several romantic comedy series. Today we'll be talking about the latest one in her series set on the fictional island of Mure, Christmas at the Island Hotel, which is available in the United States from William Morrow Paperbacks.

Connor Towne O'Neill's writing has appeared in New York Magazine, Vulture, Slate, and The Village Voice. A graduate of the creative writing program at the University of Alabama, O'Neill teaches at Auburn University and with the Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project. Today we will be talking about his debut, Down Along with That Devil’s Bones: A Reckoning with Monuments, Memory, and the Legacy of White Supremacy which is published by Algonquin Books.

 

Jeffrey H. Jackson is a professor of history at Rhodes College and was last on Book Talk to discuss Paris Under Water: How the City of Light Survived the Great Flood of 1910. Today we'll be talking about his brand new one, Paper Bullets: Two Artists Who Risked Their Lives to Defy the Nazis.

 

 

Denise Kiernan is an author, journalist and producer. Her last book, The Last Castle, was an instant New York Times bestseller in both hardcover and paperback. Today, we'll be discussing her new book that is seasonally perfect, We Gather Together: A Nation Divided, A President in Turmoil, and a Historic Campaign to Embrace Gratitude and Grace which is published by Dutton.

 

H. Ripley Rawlings IV is a recently retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel who has entered into the world of writing military thrillers. He made his publishing debut last year with Red Metal, which he co-authored with best-selling author, Mark Greaney. Today, we'll be talking about Rip's retirement from the Corps and his first solo novel, Assault by Fire, which is published by Pinnacle Books.

 

Peter Baker and Susan Glasser are our guests today. Susan Glasser is currently a writer for The New Yorker where she pens the column "Letter from Trump’s Washington." She's previously been the editor of Politco, editor-in-chief for Foreign Policy, and was national news editor for the Washington Post. She has written the book, Covering Politics in a "Post-Truth" America. Peter Baker is currently the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, and worked for The Washington Post for 20 years. He's published several books among them are The Breach: Inside the Impeachment and Trial of William Jefferson Clinton and Obama: The Call of History.

Glasser and Baker are married, served as co-Moscow Bureau chiefs for The Washington Post, and together wrote the book Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin's Russia and the End of Revolution. Recently, Doubleday has published their second co-authored book, The Man Who Ran Washington: The Life and Times of James A. Baker III, which we will be discussing today.

Laura E. Gómez is a professor of law, sociology, and Chicana/Chicano studies at UCLA Misconceiving Mothers: Legislators, Prosecutors and the Politics of Prenatal Drug Exposure, Mapping “Race”: Critical Approaches to Health Disparities Research, and Manifest Destinies: The Making of the Mexican American Race. Today we'll be talking about her new book. Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism, which is published by The New Press.

 

Michael Imperioli is probably best known for his acting, writing, and directing for television, movies, and theater. He won an Emmy for outstanding supporting actor for his portrayal of Christopher Moltisanti in the legendary series, The Sopranos. He pursues many creative endeavors, and his fiction writing has recently found its way to the reading public. His debut novel, The Perfume Burned His Eyes, was published in 2018, and he has a story in the new anthology from Akashic books, The Nicotine Chronicles, which is edited by Lee Child and also includes contributions from Joyce Carol Oates, Jerry Stahl, Hannah Tinti, and Eric Bogosian.

 

Hannah Brenner Johnson is Vice Dean for Academic and Student Affairs and Associate Professor of Law at California Western School of Law in San Diego. Renee Knake Jefferson is Professor of Law and holds the Joanne and Larry Doherty Chair in Legal Ethics at the University of Houston Law Center.

These legal scholars have collaborated on Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court. It's a look at the history of women who were considered for the Supreme Court prior to Sandra Day O'Connor's appointment in 1981. It also looks at what appears to being an honor by being a finalist for important positions is a way to pay lip service to diversity without actually achieving it.

 

 

Ariel Sabar is a former newspaper reporter for The Providence Journal, Christian Science Monitor, and The Baltimore Sun. He is currently a freelance journalist having written for publications such as Smithsonian, The Atlantic Monthly, and The Wall Street Journal. His previous books include My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for his Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq and Heart of the City. Today we'll be discussing his most recent one, Veritas: A Harvard Professor, a Con Man and the Gospel of Jesus's Wife which is published by Doubleday. 

Daniel Hornsby earned his MFA from the University of Michigan, and a Masters of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. His stories and essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books, Electric Literature, The Missouri Review, and Joyland. Today we'll be talking about his debut novel, Via Negativa, which is published by Knopf.

Dr. David Stebenne teaches at Ohio State University in the history department and their law school. David has authored two academic books, Arthur J. Goldberg: New Deal Liberal and Modern Republican: Arthur Larson and the Eisenhower Years. He and Joseph Mitchell co-authored New City Upon A Hill: A History of Columbia, Maryland.  Today, we'll be looking at his most recent book, which is aimed a general audience, Promised Land: How the Rise of the Middle Class Transformed America, 1929-1968.

Wendy Williams' journalism has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, Scientific American, and many other august publications. She's written seven book to date, including about the resilience of cancer patients, the history of the horse, and today we'll be talking about her latest, The Language of Butterflies: How Thieves, Hoarders, Scientists, and Other Obsessives Unlocked the Secrets of the World's Favorite Insect, which is published by Simon & Schuster.

Walter Thompson-Hernández is a former New York Times reporter who is now moving into the fields of podcasting and documentary film making. While at the Times, he traveled the world looking for and profiling fascinating subcultures. One of those was the group of black horse riders known as The Compton Cowboys. Their story piqued Walter's interest, and he recently released his book looking at their fascinating and fraught life trying to hold onto their horses and non-profit during a tumultuous year of changing leadership at the top of the program. The book is The Compton Cowboys: The New Generation of Cowboys in America's Urban Heartland, and it is published by HarperCollins.

Sydney Ladensohn Stern has was a reporter for Fortune and Money and her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times. She has also written three books of non-fiction, Toyland: The High-Stakes Game of the Toy Industry, Gloria Steinem: Her Passions, Politics and Mystique, and most recently, The Brothers Mankiewicz: Hope, Heartbreak, and Hollywood Classics,  which is published by The University of Mississippi Press and was recently released in audio book format by Random House Audio.

In addition to being a international best-selling author, Scott Turow is an attorney and has served as the president of The Authors Guild. His novels often take place in the fictional Kindle county, which is a stand in for Chicago and Cook County, Illinois. The heart, but not always the star of these is books is defense attorney, Alejandro Stern, known to most as Sandy Stern. Now in his mid 80s, Sandy is contemplating his retirement in the new novel, The Last Trial, which is published by Grand Central. Mr. Turow joined us from Naples, Florida.

Book Talk veteran Scott Phillips joins us for our first remote interview during the Covid-19 era. Scott's writing mixes noir with biting wit. His novels include The Ice Harvest, Cottonwood, and Rake. Today we'll be talking about his most recent book, That Left Turn at Albuquerque.

 

Lee Durkee's work has appeared in Harper’s Magazine, Best of the Oxford American,  and New England Review. His first novel was Rides of the Midway, and today we'll be talking about his latest, The Last Taxi Driver, which is published by Tin House Books.

Michael Farris Smith is a novelist and has been on Book Talk before to talk about his novels, Rivers, Desperation Road, and The Fighter. Today we'll be talking about his latest, Blackwood, which is available from Little, Brown. And as a note, this interview was recorded on March 11th, prior to many of the safer at home orders began taking effect.