Cross Word Books

Send us Fan Mail If you love Christmas  history, urban culture, or just the glow of a winter night, this conversation will change how you walk a market lane. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend who loves Christmas markets, and leave a quick review to tell us your favorite Christmas market  whereever you are in the world. Connect with the Catholic Thing Fear – and Hope – in Europe’s Christma...

Send us Fan Mail A million stories rest under the trees of Père Lachaise, and some of them still move. We sit down with curator and author-photographer Benoît Galliot to walk the avenues of Paris’s most visited cemetery and discover why it feels so alive. From neo-gothic chapels and art nouveau tombs to foxes raising kits among ivy, this tour blends cultural history with urban ecology in a way tha...

Send us Fan Mail In this fascinating podcast episode, historian Gareth Russell delves into the riveting life of King James I. Michele McAloon, the host, describes Russell's latest book, 'The Six Loves of James the First,' as a compelling historical narrative that rivals even the most intricate fiction. Russell shares captivating anecdotes about James I's dramatic upbringing ami...

Send us Fan Mail War Eagel! Roll tide! College game day! The Iron Bowl A single game can define a state. We sit down with Yahoo Sports senior writer Jay Busbee to unpack how Alabama vs Auburn became the South’s fiercest mirror, reflecting pride, pain, progress, and power from 1893 to NIL. Jay’s new book, Iron in the Blood, traces the Iron Bowl’s evolution from picnic blankets and early tailgates t...

Send us Fan Mail A freighter longer than a skyscraper is tall. Waves four seconds apart that can bend steel. A ballad recorded in a single take that changed how an entire industry thinks about risk. We sat down with John U. Bacon, author of The Gales of November, to trace the Edmund Fitzgerald from blueprint to bell, and from storm science to the quiet rooms where families still keep watch. We unp...

Send us Fan Mail Find out more about Cross Word Books at https://www.bookclues.com/ Professor Beer's website  https://mollybeer.net A woman without a rank helped a country find its balance. We sit down with Professor Molly Beer to explore Angelica Schuyler—born Engeltia into Dutch New York, educated at a royal governor’s table, and fluent in the quiet arts that hold a republic together. Her n...

Send us Fan Mail You can contact Michele  at  https://www.bookclues.com   Have you ever read Dracula??? child's play compared to John Blair's Killing the  Dead; Vampire Epidemics from Mesopotamia to the New World. A corpse that won’t stay put tells you as much about the living as it does about the dead . We sit down with Oxford’s Professor John Blair to chart how vampire epidemics rise w...

Send us Fan Mail Connect with Michele at https://www.bookclues.com What if the most important maps we’ll ever draw are hidden under miles of water and thousands of PSI? We sit down with physicist and exploration roboticist James Bellingham to trace a life spent pushing past pressure, busting tethers, and building the autonomous systems that make the deep sea knowable. We start with the physics tha...

Send us Fan Mail Michele McAloon is the host.  You can find more interviews on her website https://www.bookclues.com . The name Thomas Becket echoes through history as one of medieval England's most compelling figures – a man whose dramatic transformation from royal chancellor to martyred archbishop continues to captivate our imagination nearly a millennium later. In this episode, we're...

Send us Fan Mail Connect with me on  https://www.bookclues.com Have you ever wondered about the real-life inspiration behind shows like " The Americans "? Shaun Walker pulls back the curtain on one of history's most audacious espionage operations in this riveting conversation about his meticulously researched book, " The Illegals: Russia's Most Audacious Spies and Their Ce...

Send us Fan Mail Contact the host of Cross Word, Michele McAloon https://www.bookclues.com What makes us human? It's a question at the heart of today's most heated cultural debates, from abortion to artificial intelligence to gender identity. In this profound conversation, Princeton's Professor Robert George offers a compelling framework for understanding human dignity that transcen...

Send us Fan Mail Contact Michele at her website https://www.bookclues.com Andrei Soldatov shares his firsthand account of Russia's transformation under Putin, explaining how the free press was systematically dismantled and the country became increasingly isolated from the West. His powerful narrative weaves personal stories of journalists who either resisted or succumbed to the system, provid...

Send us Fan Mail Professor John Ferling takes us on a captivating journey through the international dimensions of America's founding conflict in "Shots Heard Around the World: America, Britain, and Europe in the Revolutionary War." As we approach the 250th anniversary of American independence, this conversation reveals how our revolution emerged from the ashes of the Seven Years&apo...

Send us Fan Mail Andrew Weiss, Vice President for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, reveals how Vladimir Putin rose from mediocre KGB officer to Russian leader through a series of accidents and opportunities rather than strategic brilliance or espionage expertise. • Putin was a mid-level KGB officer who never achieved high rank before being chosen as Yeltsin's success...

Send us Fan Mail  "World War Zoos: Humans and Other Animals in the Deadliest Conflict of the Modern Age." University of Chicago Press To find our more about Michele McAloon: Your host. https://www.bookclues.com What happens to zoo animals when war breaks out? It's a question few of us consider, yet the answer reveals profound truths about humanity's moral compass.  Professor Jo...

Send us Fan Mail Michele McAloon speaks with Olena Tregub, a Ukrainian civil society leader and anti-corruption advocate, about the realities of war in Ukraine and why American support remains crucial despite political uncertainty. • Olena describes the terrifying routine of air raid alerts and Russia's intensified attacks on Ukrainian civilians • Ukrainian defense relies heavily on US-suppli...

Send us Fan Mail This Memorial Day episode revisits a conversation with Alison Maker about her book "Making the Best Years of Our Lives," exploring the classic 1946 film that portrayed veterans returning home from World War II. • William Wyler, the film's director, was a Jewish immigrant who served as a major in the Army Signal Corps during WWII • Wyler flew actual combat missions w...

Send us Fan Mail What if apocalypse doesn't mean the end of everything, but rather a revelation of new possibilities? Archaeologist Lizzie Wade turns our understanding of catastrophe upside down in this eye-opening conversation about how ancient societies transformed through crisis. Speaking from Mexico City, Wade takes us on a global journey through civilizations that faced devastating chall...

Send us Fan Mail Dorian Linskey explores humanity's persistent fascination with apocalyptic scenarios through his book "Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World." This deep dive into our cultural obsession with the end times reveals how these narratives reflect our psychology, politics, and understanding of human nature. • Mary Shelley created the first sec...

Send us Fan Mail The extraordinary journey of Volodymyr Zelensky—from Ukraine's most beloved comedian to its wartime president—represents one of history's most dramatic political transformations. Simon Shuster, who has reported from Ukraine and Russia for over 15 years, joins us to discuss his revealing biography "The Showman: Inside the Invasion that Shook the World and Made a Lead...

Send us Fan Mail Delve into the captivating world of the Jesuits with Dr. Marcus Friedrich, whose monumental work "The Jesuits: A History" illuminates five centuries of one of history's most influential and controversial religious orders. From their unexpected origins in the conversion of a Spanish nobleman to their current global presence under the first Jesuit pope, this conversat...

Send us Fan Mail The passing of Pope Francis marks a pivotal moment in Catholic history, triggering ancient protocols that few outside the Vatican understand. As a canon lawyer within the Roman Catholic Church's legal system, I'm uniquely positioned to guide you through the fascinating reality behind papal succession. Forget Hollywood's conspiracy theories and dramatic interpretatio...

Send us Fan Mail The Battle of Lexington marked the beginning of the American Revolution, with ordinary farmers standing against British troops in an extraordinary act of courage and defiance despite overwhelming odds. • Solomon Brown, an 18-year-old dairy farmer, first spotted British officers with concealed weapons on April 18, 1775 • Lexington was a struggling dairy community of 700 people in e...

Send us Fan Mail Steve Delity brings history alive as he prepares to portray Daniel Harrington in the 250th anniversary reenactment of the Battle of Lexington. Through meticulous research and authentic reproduction, he honors the legacy of the ordinary citizens who took extraordinary action on April 19, 1775. • Daniel Harrington was the 36-year-old clerk of Captain John Parker's Lexington Mil...

Send us Fan Mail James Arbib and I explore how humanity stands at the threshold of a fundamental paradigm shift from an extractive to a stellar world, and how technological change could transform our civilization for the better. • Our current societal structures (governments, markets, property ownership) have persisted for 5,000 years because they confer advantages in an extractive production para...