Tag Archives: Nonfiction

Podcast

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, LOADED & Gregg Levine on Fukushima Daichi Radiation

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz tells us about her new book,  Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment.

Then we talk with journalist Gregg Levine about his special investigation for The Nation Magazine into the deaths and illnesses afflicting US sailors exposed to radiation from the Fukushima Daichi meltdown. It’s titled “Seven Years on, Sailors Exposed to Fukushima Radiation Seek Their Day in Court.”

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Podcast

Tara Whitsitt, Fermentation on Wheels & Katherine Harvey, The Bare Bones Broth Cookbook.

Tara Whitsitt talks about her book Fermentation on Wheels. It’s the story –with recipes — of how she’s been spreading the word about the wonders of fermented foods by traveling around the country on a bus.

Then we re-air our interview with Katherine Harvey about her book, The Bare Bones Broth Cookbook. Continue reading

Podcast

Daniel Ellsberg, THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE & Michael Klare on Trump’s Nuclear Posture Review

Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg talks about his shocking new book, The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. Then we talk with peace and security analyst Michael Klare about his recent article in the Nation, “Trump’s Nuclear Posture Review: Back to Armageddon.” Continue reading

Podcast

Ashley Dawson On Inequality & Climate Change

Author and activist Ashley Dawson talks about his groundbreaking book, Extreme Cities: The Peril and Promise of Urban Life in the Age of Climate Change (Verso.) It examines the foundation on which climate chaos is playing out in the urban landscape: predatory capitalism and its most glaring feature, extreme inequality. [Note: this is the extended interview.]

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Podcast

Rob Okun, on #MeToo VOICE MALE & Ursula K. Le Guin UNREAL AND REAL

We air part of our 2014 interview with Rob Okun about his book, Voice Male: The Untold Story of the Pro-Feminist Men’s Movement, which is out in a new edition. But first we talk with Okun about #MeToo and #TimesUp — and how men can support that movement.

Then the pioneering science fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin died on January 23. We air our 2012 interview with her about her anthology The Unreal And The Real. Continue reading

Podcast

Brian Platzer,  BED-STUY IS BURNING & Peter Moskowitz, HOW TO KILL A CITY

Our theme this episode is gentrification. We talk with Brian Platzer about his novel Bed-Stuy is Burning (Simon and Schuster). It’s about what happens when tensions between gentrifiers and the gentrified explode.

Then we re-air our interview from 2017 with Peter Moskowitz about his book, How to Kill a City: Gentrification, Inequality, and the Fight for the Neighborhood. Continue reading

Podcast

Katherine Paterson, MY BRIGADISTA YEAR & Jessica Yu, GARDEN OF THE LOST AND ABANDONED

We talk with Katherine Paterson, the best selling author of The Bridge to Terabithia, about her new YA novel, My Brigadista Year. It’s about the 1961 Cuban Literacy Campaign and its teenage heroes.

Then, Jessica Yu talks about her book Garden of the Lost and Abandoned: The Extraordinary Story of One Ordinary Woman and the Children She Saves. It’s about a courageous and compassionate Ugandan journalist who rescues children who have become lost or cast out from home. Continue reading

Podcast

John Michael Greer, The Retro Future & Peter Kalmus, Being The Change

John Michael Greer talks about his latest book The Retro Future: Looking to the Past to Reinvent the Future (New Society Publishers.) Then, climate scientist Peter Kalmus weighs in on the personal choices we can all make to protect the climate. He tells us about his book, Being The Change: Live Well and Spark a Climate Revolution (New Society Publishers.) Continue reading

Podcast

Sy Montgomery, TAMED AND UNTAMED & Elizabeth Tova Bailey

Celebrated author Sy Montgomery talks with us about the essays she and Elizabeth Marshall Thomas have written and collected in a wonderful new book, Tamed and Untamed: Close Encounters of the Animal Kind. Then we hear part of our 2011 interview with Elizabeth Tova Bailey about her book The Sound of A Wild Snail Eating. Continue reading

Podcast

Katherine Nouri Hughes, THE MAPMAKER’S DAUGHTER & Claire McKinney, DO YOU KNOW WHAT A BOOK PUBLICIST DOES?

Katherine Nouri Hughes talks about her novel The Mapmaker’s Daughter. It tells the story of a remarkable historical figure of the 16th century, Queen Mother Nurbanu.

We also get advice from book publicist Claire McKinney on how to promote your book. She’s the author of Do You Know What a Book Publicist Does?: A Guide for Creating Your Own Campaigns. Continue reading

Podcast

Carol Anderson, WHITE RAGE

Carol Anderson talks about her bestselling book White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide. Anderson says every time African Americans make gains — from ending slavery to voting rights to the election of a Black POTUS — white Americans mobilize relentlessly to roll back those gains. She says the correct question is not why Black people are angry; it’s why whites are so angry when Black people get rights? Continue reading

Podcast

Leslie Sharpe, THE QUARRY FOX and David Gessner, SOARING WITH FIDEL

Writer and naturalist Leslie Sharpe talks about her new book, The Quarry Fox and Other Tales of the Wild Catskills. Then we air part of my 2007 interview with David Gessner about his book, Soaring with Fidel: An Osprey Odyssey from Cape Cod to Cuba and Beyond. Continue reading

Podcast

Deborah Campbell, A DISAPPEARANCE IN DAMASCUS & Melissa Fleming, A HOPE MORE POWERFUL THAN THE SEA

As this show was being produced, the news came that the Supreme Court has upheld part of Donald Trump’s Muslim Ban — the part blocking new refugees coming from six majority-Muslim nations. The justices reversed rulings by a federal judge in Hawaii and the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The ban will affect some 24,000 refugees seeking asylum, among them those fleeing war-torn Syria.

We focus today on the human cost of war. Journalist Deborah Campbell tells us about her book, A Disappearance in Damascus: Friendship and Survival in the Shadow of War. Then, we re-air our interview earlier this year with Melissa Fleming about her book, A Hope More Powerful Than the Sea: One Refugee’s Incredible Story of Love, Loss, and Survival.

The books tell the stories of two refugees, one who fled Iraq into Syria and then had to flee Syria to the United States — long before Trump’s Muslim ban. The other story is about a Syrian refugee who barely survived the treacherous crossing from Turkey to Europe to resettled in the far more welcoming country of Sweden. Both stories are about the real cost of war — a cost few Americans ever get to see. Continue reading

Podcast

Marc Fasanella: RALPH FASANELLA, IMAGES OF OPTIMISM

We talk with Marc Fasanella about his father, painter and labor organizer Ralph Fasanella and the new book he wrote about him, Ralph Fasanella: Images of Optimism (with an introduction by Leslie Umberger). Then, we turn to Marc Fasanella’s own project, the Ecological Culture Initiative. Continue reading

Podcast

Wilmer Leon, POLITICS ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE & Greg Palast, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

WV talks with with political analyst, author and radio host Wilmer Leon about his collection of essays spanning part of the Bush era and both terms of the Obama administration, Politics Another Perspective: Commentary and Analysis on Race, War, Ethics and the American Political Landscape in the Age of Obama.

Also,  we air an edited version of our interview with investigative journalist Greg Palast about his book and movie, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. He says the GOP and its billionaire funders have been stealing the votes of millions of Americans. Continue reading