Tag Archives: Nonfiction

Podcast

Russell Banks: Voyager & Lost Memory of Skin

We spend the hour with acclaimed author Russell Banks, first talking about his new book, Voyager, a travel and personal memoir. Then we re-air our 2011 interview with him about his novel Lost Memory of Skin.

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Podcast

David Bollier, PATTERNS OF COMMONING & Juliana Barbassa on Rio & the Olympics

David Bollier talks about the Commons and the radically new versions it’s taking — and spreading — around the world. His new book, co-edited with Silke Helfrich, is Patterns of Commoning.

Then, the Rio Olympics are happening in a Brazil plagued by corruption, conflict and a de facto coup against President Dilma Roussef. We re-air our October 2015 interview with Juliana Barbassa about her book,  Dancing With The Devil In The City of God: Rio de Janeiro on the Brink. It’s about how the preparations for the Olympic Games  revealed the cracks in the “Brazilian miracle.” Continue reading

Podcast

Kermit Roosevelt, ALLEGIANCE & Pamela Rotner Sakamoto (encore)

Kermit Roosevelt talks about his novel Allegiance, a legal thriller that has the internal debate over the policy of internment of Japanese Americans at its core. Then we re-air our interview with Pamela Rotner Sakamoto about her book, Midnight in Broad Daylight. It’s the true story of a Japanese-American family sundered by World War II on both sides of the Pacific. One side suffered internment. The other side of the family were there when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Continue reading

Podcast

Wendell Potter, Nation on the Take & Adam Johnson on DNC Wikileaks

We talk with Wendell Potter about the book he co-wrote with Nick Penniman, Nation on the Take: How Big Money Corrupts Our Democracy and What We Can Do About It.

Then, we speak with journalist Adam Johnson about the corporate spin on the Wikileaks DNC revelations. His article for the media watch group FAIR is “With DNC Leaks, Former Conspiracy Theory’ Is Now True — and No Big Deal”.

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Podcast

Charlotte Rogan, Now And Again & Monique Morris, Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools

Charlotte Rogan talks about her new novel, Now And Again. It’s about an ordinary woman who becomes inspired to take on the fight against the social ills she sees around her — and what that means for the people she loves.

Then, Monique Morris talks about her groundbreaking book Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools.

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Podcast

Richard Zacks: Chasing the Last Laugh & Island of Vice

Richard Zacks talks about his new book about Mark Twain’s world lecture tour to get himself out of debt. It’s called Chasing the Last Laugh: Mark Twain’s Raucous and Redemptive Round-the-World Comedy Tour.

Then we re-air the 2012 interview Zacks gave Writers Voice in 2012 about his book Island of Vice. It’s about Teddy Roosevelt’s stint as New York City’s crusading anti-vice Police Commissioner. Continue reading

Podcast

Runaway Inequality & The Strip And Flip Selection of 2016

Les Leopold talks about his new book, Runaway Inequality: An Activist’s Guide to Economic Justice. It’s about how wealth and income inequality are strip-mining our economy and destroying communities across America.

Then — with massive voter purges and hackable voting machines, are American elections really clean and fair? We hear a clip from a recent speech from election integrity expert Robert Fitrakis. He’s got a new book out, co-authored with Harvey Wasserman — The Strip And Flip Selection of 2016. Continue reading

Podcast

George Hodgman, BETTYVILLE & Alan Teel, ALONE & INVISIBLE NO MORE

George Hodgeman talks about his wonderful memoir of taking care of his mother in her declining years, Bettyville, first published in 2015 and now out in paperback. Then we re-air our 2011 interview with Dr. Allan Teel about his innovative approach to caring for seniors, called Full Circle. His book is Alone and Invisible No More. Continue reading

Podcast

What Happens When Your Land Gets Fracked?

Novelist Jennifer Haigh talks about her powerful new book, Heat and Light. It’s about what happens to a small Pennsylvania community when the frackers come to town.

Then Andrew Nikiforuk tells the true story of Jessica Ernst, a Canadian oil patch consultant turned anti-fracking activist. We talk with him about his book, Slick Water: Fracking and One Insider’s Stand Against the World’s Most Powerful Industry.  Continue reading

Podcast

Peter Blood and Annie Patterson Rise Again & more

Peter Blood and Annie Patterson, co-creators of Rise Up Singing, talk about the sequel, Rise Again (Hal Leonard Publishing June, 2015). We talk with them about both songbooks, their work with Pete Seeger and their long collaboration as a musical couple.

Then we talk with journalist and anti-fracking activist, Maura Stephens. Continue reading

Podcast

Fixing Our Broken Election System

Can we get real democracy in the US? We talk with political scientist Patrick Barrett about his article, “Can We Change the Political System? Strategic Lessons of the Bernie Sanders Campaign”.

Then we re-air our 2008 interview with muckraking reporter Greg Palast about his book Steal Back Your Vote. We talk about how voters were disenfranchised by voter purging and other voter suppression methods in past elections — and what voters can do about it. Continue reading

Podcast

Two Memoirs Celebrate Our Connection With The Earth & Its Creatures

We talk with Elizabeth Marshall Thomas about her memoir, Dreaming of Lions: My Life In The Wild Places. She writes about her life with the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert and other people of the Old Way.

And wildlife conservationist Dale Peterson discusses his latest book, Where Have All The Animals Gone? My Travels with Karl Ammann. It’s about his efforts to document the bushmeat trade and other human impacts threatening extinction for apes, elephants and giraffes. We also speak with him about another of his books, The Moral Lives of Animals. Continue reading

Podcast

Backyard Building & The Soul of Shelter

America’s First Couple of do-it-yourself building projects David and Jean Stiles talk about their latest book, Backyard Buildings: Tree Houses, Sheds, Arbors, Gates and Other Garden Projects. Then we replay our 2013 interview with Howard Mansfield about his profound and delightful book, Dwelling in Possibility: Searching for the Soul of Shelter. Continue reading

Podcast

Ellen Meeropol: On Hurricane Island & Cecelia Tichi: Jack London

Ellen Meeropol talks about her new novel, On Hurricane Island. It’s about what happens when an innocent American citizen is abducted to a domestic black site and tortured. Meeropol also discusses how being married to one of the sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg has influenced her writing.

Then, a look back at one of the greatest writers and critics of America’s first Gilded Age and his relevance for today, Jack London: Cecelia Tichi talks about her biography of the great writer and democratic socialist, Jack London: A Writer’s Fight For a Better America.
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Podcast

Lauret Savoy, TRACE: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape

We talk with environmental earth scientist and writer Lauret Savoy about her stunning new book, Trace: Memory History, Race & The American Landscape. In it, Savoy examines how the country’s still unfolding history, and ideas of “race,” have marked her and the land — and what that history says about our relationships to each other and the places we inhabit. Continue reading