WYPL Book Talk

I’m delighted to welcome Dr. L indsay Chervinsky back to the program for the concluding installment of our two-part interview. Dr. Chervinsky recently was named the executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon. She has previously written The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution and co-edited Mourning the Presidents: Loss and Leg...

I’m happy to welcome Dr. L indsay Chervinsky back to the program for the first of a two-part interview. Dr. Chervinsky recently was named the executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon. She has previously written The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution and co-edited Mourning the Presidents: Loss and Legacy in American Culture...

Dr. Amanda Bellows teaches history at The New School in New York. In addition to many contributions to academic journals and scholarly books, her writing has also appeared in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, in addition to many others. Her first book was American Slavery and Russian Serfdom in the Post-Emancipation Imagination, and today we conclude our discussion of her recent rele...

Dr. Amanda Bellows teaches history at The New School in New York. In addition to many contributions to academic journals and scholarly books, her writing has also appeared in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, in addition to many others. Her first book was American Slavery and Russian Serfdom in the Post-Emancipation Imagination, and today we begin our discussion of her recent release...

Steve Wynn is the founder and creative force behind the influential L.A. rock band The Dream Syndicate, which never quite made the leap to mainstream, but they were probably one of your favorite bands’ favorite bands. In addition to a solo career, Steve has played with many of genre’s heaviest hitters, including four albums with The Baseball Project, which also includes Peter Buck and Mike Mills o...

Eli Cranor played college football, and even professionally in Sweden for a bit. He came back to Arkansas to teach high school and coach football. His debut novel, Don't Know Tough, won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel and was on The New York Times and USA Today’s best books of the year lists. Eli appeared on Book Talk for his second novel, Ozark Dogs, which landed on The New York Ti...

Eli Cranor played college football, and even professionally in Sweden for a bit. He came back to Arkansas to teach high school and coach football. His debut novel, Don't Know Tough, won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel and was on The New York Times and USA Today’s best books of the year lists. Eli appeared on Book Talk for his second novel, Ozark Dogs, which landed on The New York Ti...

Paul Haddad is a television producer as well as a writer, having published novels and non-fiction alike. Born in Hollywood, he has a keen interest in Los Angeles, and some of his previous books include High Fives, Pennant Drives, and Fernandomania, as well as Freewaytopia: How Freeways Shaped Los Angeles. Today we’ll begin our two-part conversation about his latest title, Inventing Paradise: The P...

Paul Haddad is a television producer as well as a writer, having published novels and non-fiction alike. Born in Hollywood, he has a keen interest in Los Angeles, and some of his previous books include High Fives, Pennant Drives, and Fernandomania, as well as Freewaytopia: How Freeways Shaped Los Angeles. Today we’ll begin our two-part conversation about his latest title, Inventing Paradise: The P...

  Boyce Upholt is a writer whose work has been published in the Atlantic, National Geographic, and the Oxford American, among others, and he was awarded the 2019 James Beard Award for investigative journalism. Today we’ll conclude our two-part discussion about his debut book, The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi , which is published by W.W. Norton.  

  Boyce Upholt is a writer whose work has been published in the Atlantic, National Geographic, and the Oxford American, among others, and he was awarded the 2019 James Beard Award for investigative journalism. Today we’ll begin our two-part discussion about his debut book, The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi , which is published by W.W. Norton.  

  Mark Greaney is best known for his Grey Man series starring the burned CIA operator turned assassin Court Gentry. But today we’ll be discussing the second book in his other series, starring Josh and Nicole Duffy. The first book Armored came out in 2022, and today we’ll be talking about Sentinel which is newly available from Berkely Books. 

  Dr. Kathleen DuVal is a professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her previous works include Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution and The Native Ground: Indians and Colonists in the Heart of the Continent. Today is the final installment of a special three-part interview about her recently released book, Native Nations: A Millennium in North...

    Dr. Kathleen DuVal is a professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her previous works include Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution and The Native Ground: Indians and Colonists in the Heart of the Continent. Today is the second installment of a special three-part interview about her recently released book, Native Nations: A Millennium in No...

    Dr. Kathleen DuVal is a professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her previous works include Independence Lost: Lives on the Edge of the American Revolution and The Native Ground: Indians and Colonists in the Heart of the Continent. Today we begin our conversation about her recently released book, Native Nations: A Millennium in North America , which is available f...

Hampton Sides is a veteran journalist and non-fiction writer, with his work appearing in many publications, including National Geographic and Outside magazine. Book Talk listeners may best know him for his appearances discussing his titles like, Hellhound on His Trail, Blood and Thunder, and In the Kingdom of Ice. Today, we will begin a two-part interview talking about his latest book, The Wide Wi...

Hampton Sides is a veteran journalist and non-fiction writer, with his work appearing in many publications, including National Geographic and Outside magazine. Book Talk listeners may best know him for his appearances discussing his titles like, Hellhound on His Trail, Blood and Thunder, and In the Kingdom of Ice. Today, we will begin a two-part interview talking about his latest book, The Wide Wi...

  Sara Koffi is a native of Memphis, who currently calls western Pennsylvania home. We’ll be discussing her debut, a thriller called, While We Were Burning , which is set in Harbor Town, one of the few majority-white neighborhoods in Memphis, and how that lack of integration exacerbates the grief felt by the leading women characters, both black and white.

  This is the second of a two-part interview with, Alice Randall , who is best known for her best-selling novels The Wind Done Gone, Rebel Yell, Black Bottom Saints and others. But before writing prose, Alice wrote country songs in Nashville, including "XXXs and OOOs", which went to top the charts for Trisha Yearwood, making Alice the first African-American woman to write a number one country hit...

  Book lovers know Alice Randall for her best-selling novels including The Wind Done Gone, Rebel Yell, Black Bottom Saints and others. But before writing prose, Alice wrote country songs in Nashville, including "XXXs and OOOs", which went to top the charts for Trisha Yearwood, making Alice the first African-American woman to write a number one country hit record. Her new book, My Black Country: A...

Dr. SunAh M. Laybou rn is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Memphis. Her research has been published in Ethnic & Racial Studies, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Sociology Compass, and Asian Pacific American Law Journal. Her co-authored book entitled, Diversity in Black Greek-Letter Organizations: Breaking the Line, was published by Routledge in 2018. Today we will be di...

  We welcome Kurt Wagner back for the second of a two-part interview today. Kurt is an award-winning business and technology journalist covering social media for Bloomberg and has been writing about Twitter and other social media companies and their impacts on society since 2013. Kurt’s debut book is Battle for the Bird: Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, and the $44 Billion Fight for Twitter's Soul , which...

  We happily welcome Kurt Wagner for the first of a two-part interview today. Kurt is an award-winning business and technology journalist covering social media for Bloomberg and has been writing about Twitter and other social media companies and their impacts on society since 2013. Kurt’s debut book is Battle for the Bird: Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, and the $44 Billion Fight for Twitter's Soul , whic...

Mark Greaney is now best known for his long-running Grey Man series, starring the burned CIA op, Court Gentry. And as a special treat, Mark brought along his editor, Tom Colgan, who is Vice President, Editorial Director for Berkley Books. Today we’ll be talking about entry number 13 in the series, The Chaos Agent.  

Guest host Matt Ward welcomes retired gangster and current historian Louis Ferrante on for an epic two-hour interview. Ferrante's new book is Borgata: Rise of Empire: A History of the American Mafia , first part of the planned Borgata Trilogy) covering the Mafia's first one hundred years, from 1860's Sicily to 1960's America.