Tag Archives: history

Web Extras

Web Extra: Extended Interview with David Kishik

David Kishik

Urban philosopher David Kishik talks about his book, The Manhattan Project. It imagines what Walter Benjamin would have written about New York had he succeeded in escaping to the US from Nazi-dominated Europe. Continue reading

Podcast

Rebel Girls & Boys

Historian Lara Vapnek talks about her biography of the great labor organizer and champion of civil liberties, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. And later, we talk with civil liberties lawyer and journalist, Bill Newman about his collection of essays reprising his long engagement with civil liberties and social justice, When The War Came Home.

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Podcast

The Amherst Affair: Austin, Mabel & Emily, Too

William Nicholson talks about his new novel, AMHERST. It’s about the passionate affair between Emily Dickinson’s brother Austin and Mabel Todd. And later we re-air part of our 2007 interview with Debby Applegate about her biography of another 19th century figure associated with Amherst, Massachusetts: fiery evangelical preacher Henry Ward Beecher. Her book is THE MOST FAMOUS MAN IN AMERICA. Continue reading

Podcast

Following The Thread of History To Find Ourselves

David Laskin talks about his family memoir of Jewish life in the twentieth century, The Family: Three Journeys into the Heart of the Twentieth Century. Then, a poet’s dialog with the 1886 diary of an ordinary woman: Sarah Sousa talks about her books, Diary of Esther Small, 1886 and Church of Needles.

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Podcast

Rowing For The Gold Against Hitler & Shakespeare From The Female POV

Daniel James Brown talks about his bestseller, THE BOYS IN THE BOAT: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Then, a re-telling of the story of Romeo and Juliet — from the POV of Juliet’s nurse. We talk with historian-turned-novelist Lois Leveen about JULIET’S NURSE.

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Podcast

Is School Reform Failing Our Schools?

Dana Goldstein

Journalist Dana Goldstein discusses her groundbreaking history of school reform in the US and conflicts over teaching, then and now. It’s called The Teacher Wars: A History of America’s Most Embattled Profession (Doubleday). Then, we check in with Katrina van den Heuvel about her interview with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

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Podcast

Danielle Allen, OUR DECLARATION & Katy Simpson Smith, THE STORY OF LAND AND SEA

Danielle Allen
Danielle Allen

Danielle Allen talks about the foundational ideas of our American Republic in her book Our Declaration, A Reading Of The Declaration of Independence In Defense of Equality (W.W.Norton, 2014)

Then Katy Simpson Smith talks about her novel, The Story of Land And Sea (Harper Collins, 2014.) It takes place just after the Revolutionary War, when ideas of equality and liberty were transforming America.

NEWSFLASH! We’re excited to announce that Writer’s Voice has a redesigned, more user friendly website. It’s built to work with all your web devices: smart phones, tablets and computers.

Explore the site, join the email list and keep an eye on exclusive features we’re rolling out in the coming weeks. Let website designer Bill Weye know how much you appreciate this new design (or tell him what else you’d like to see there). We love his work! Continue reading

Podcast

Karen Abbott, LIAR, TEMPTRESS, SOLDIER, SPY & Lois Leveen, THE SECRETS OF MARY BOWSER

Karen Abbott
Karen Abbott
Lois Leveen
Lois Leveen

Karen Abbott talks about her latest book, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy. It’s about four courageous women of the Civil War who made history. And later, we replay our 2013 interview with Lois Leveen about her novel, The Secrets of Mary Bowser. It’s about an African American ex-slave who was a Union spy right inside the Confederate White House.

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Podcast

Robert Harris, AN OFFICER & A SPY & Francine Prose, LOVERS AT THE CHAMELEON CLUB

Robert Harris
Robert Harris
Francine Prose
Francine Prose

Robert Harris talks about his terrific new novel about the Dreyfus Affair and the whistleblower who blew it wide open: An Officer And A Spy. And Francine Prose talks about her new historical novel about France in the 1930’s: Lovers At The Chameleon Club-Paris, 1932.

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Podcast

Jim Douglass, JFK AND THE UNSPEAKABLE (encore)

James W. Douglass
James W. Douglass

Christian theologian and peace activist James W. Douglass tells us why he thinks JFK was assassinated. He says it was because Kennedy went up against the military-industrial complex and the national security state. His carefully researched book is JFK AND THE UNSPEAKABLE. On the 50th Anniversary of JFK’s assassination, we re-air this interview from 2009.

“This is the story…of a person who turned against a way that was destructive toward a way that is peaceful and just — and from that point on he and his enemy, Nikita Khrushchev, begin to work together and that’s the beginning of the end of John Kennedy.” –James W. Douglass

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Podcast

Episode Four of THE RIVER RUNS THROUGH US: The Palimpsest of Time

Brian Kitely
Brian Kitely
Tim Brennan
Tim Brennan

In this fourth episode of our Writers Voice special series, The River Runs Through Us, Brian Kitely talks about THE RIVER GODS, his novel-in-vignettes of Northampton, Massachusetts from its founding to today; Native American scholar Marge Bruchac tells us about the original inhabitants of the Valley, and Pioneer Valley Planning Commission director Tim Brennan discusses the history and future of the Connecticut River in Massachusetts.

Our thanks to Mass Humanities for their support for this series.

MH_logo
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Podcast

Anthony Lewis, FREEDOM FOR THE THOUGHT THAT WE HATE & Edward Ball, THE INVENTOR AND THE TYCOON

Anthony Lewis
Anthony Lewis
Edward Ball
Edward Ball

The late Anthony Lewis on his “biography of the First Amendment,” Freedom for the Thought That We Hate. Lewis died on March 25, 2013. And Edward Ball talks with Drew Adamek about his book, The Inventor and the Tycoon. It’s about how modern media were born out of an unlikely partnership between a tycoon and an inventor who was a murderer.

THANK YOU From Writers Voice Hosts Drew Adamek and Francesca Rheannon

We want to send a big shout out of thanks to all who sent in donations to our Kickstarter Campaign to support our special series, The River Runs Through Us. We’re happy to report we exceeded our goal and have been able to heave a huge sigh of relief. Thanks SO much — and tune in to our next episode of The River Runs Through Us, coming up next week on WV. We’ll be listing our supporters on this website in the coming weeks. Continue reading

Podcast

Lois Leveen, THE SECRETS OF MARY BOWSER & Eve LaPlante, MARMEE & LOUISA

 

Lois Leveen
Lois Leveen

 

Eve LaPlante
Eve LaPlante

Lois Leveen talks about the remarkable true story of Mary Bowser, a freed slave who became a Union spy right inside the Confederate White House. Her acclaimed new novel, THE SECRETS OF MARY BOWSER, is based on it. And Eve LaPlante talks about her terrific new book, MARMEE AND LOUISA. It’s about the powerful relationship between Louisa May Alcott and her mother Abigail. Continue reading