Reader's Corner

An interview with Kevin Grange, author of Grizzly Confidential. Part science, part travelogue, the book is a both a gripping account of the famous North American species and a passionate plea for bear conservation.

An interview with Russell Muirhead, co-author of the new book, Ungoverning: The Attack on the Administrative State and the Politics of Chaos. The book details how a concentrated attack on political institutions threatens to disable the essential workings of government.

An interview with Marsha E. Barrett, author of Nelson Rockefeller's Dilemma. The book is a compelling political history of the influential career of the four-time New York State governor and US vice president.

An interview with legendary travel writer Rick Steves about his new book, On the Hippie Trail. The book offers a glimpse into the memories and misadventures of his formative 1978 trek from Istanbul to Kathmandu.

An interview with Christian Cooper, author of the book, Better Living Through Birding. Part memoir, part travelogue, the book explores how birding helped Cooper during the most difficult parts of his life, and how we can all benefit from looking up more.

An interview with Sy Montgomery, author of What the Chicken Knows. Part science writing, part personal narrative, the book explores the surprising traits and unique personalities of the world’s most recognizable bird.

An interview with Greg Barnhisel, author of Code Name Puritan. The book is a fascinating biography of Norman Holmes Pearson, an unassuming literary scholar and part-time spy who transformed postwar American culture.

An interview with Maria Popova, co-author of the new book, Russia and Ukraine: Entangled Histories, Diverging States. The book examines how the fall of the Soviet Union started an identity and regime divergence between Russia and Ukraine, and set both countries on an inevitable collision course.

Note: This is an encore edition of Reader's Corner. The episode originally aired in November 2022.An interview with Nate Schweber, author of the new book, This America of Ours: Bernard & Avis DeVoto and the Forgotten Fight to Save the Wild. In the book, Schweber tells the story of the extraordinary couple who rescued national parks from McCarthyism, and inspired a future of conservation.

An interview with Mark Greaney, author of the new thriller, Midnight Black. The book is a taut new addition to Greaney’s bestselling Gray Man series.

An interview with David Rohde, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Where Tyranny Begins. In the book, Rohde details how Donald Trump used threats, co-option, and conspiracy theories to bend DOJ and FBI officials to his will.

An interview with Lindsey Cormack, author of the new book, How to Raise a Citizen. The book is a practical guide to nurturing the next generation of responsible, informed citizens.

An interview with Bryce Andrews, author of the new book, Holding Fire. The book is a memoir of inheritance, history, and one gun’s role in the violence that shaped the American West.

Note: This is an encore edition of Reader's Corner. The episode originally aired in October 2022. An interview with Chris Pavone, author of the thrilling novel, Two Nights in Lisbon. The book is story of a woman under pressure, and what she will resort to when everything is on the line.

An interview with Hansen Shi, author of the thrilling new novel, The Expat. The book follows a young businessman who travels to China for a job offer, only to find himself thrust into a world of corporate espionage.

An interview with Adam Higginbotham, author of Challenger. The book is a thrilling minute-by-minute account of the 1986 Challenger shuttle disaster, based on new archival research.

Producer's Note: This is an encore edition of Reader's Corner. The episode originally aired in October 2022. An interview with Toya Wolfe, debut author of the novel, Last Summer on State Street. The book is a striking coming-of-age debut about friendship, community, and resilience, set in the housing projects of Chicago.

An interview with Marcel Dirsus, author of How Tyrants Fall. The book is a deeply-researched examination of how dictators are overthrown, and what happens to nations in the aftermath.

An interview with Brian Rosenwald, author of the book, Talk Radio's America. The book takes a close look at the infotainment format pioneered by Rush Limbaugh on AM radio, and the effect it had on the Republican party.

Note: This is an encore edition of Reader's Corner. The episode originally aired in September 2022. An interview with Mark Follman, author of Trigger Points: Inside the Mission to Stop Mass Shootings in America. The book casts new light on the behind-the-scenes work being done to predict and prevent mass shootings.

An interview with Rob Hart, author of the new novel, Assassins Anonymous. The book is a thrilling story of suspense, murder, and redemption, as a reformed hitman tries to stay on the straight and narrow while running for his life.

An interview with Arlie Russell Hochschild, author of Stolen Pride. Set in Appalachia, the book takes a hard look at the “pride paradox” that has given the Right Wing’s appeals such resonance.

Note: This is an encore presentation of Reader's Corner. The episode originally aired in September 2022.An interview with Edward H. Miller, author of A Conspiratorial Life: Robert Welch, the John Birch Society, and the Revolution of American Conservatism. In the book, Miller argues that Welch’s paranoid right-wing nativism, dismissed by thinkers like William F. Buckley, gradually moved from the fr...

An interview with Melissa B. Jacoby, author of the new book, Unjust Debts. The book offers an incisive look at the hidden role of bankruptcy in perpetuating inequality in America.

An interview with Amor Towles, bestselling author of the new book, Table for Two. The book is a collection of short fiction based in New York, along with a novella set in the Golden Age of Hollywood.