Lolita Files "sex.lies.murder.fame."

A brilliant, handsome, literary and musical genius is also a duplicitous skunk, it turns out, in the Lolita Files novel sex.lies.murder.fame. Penn Hamilton is the skunk's name, and his scheme to become rich and famous depends on a plain-looking high school dropout.

Jenny White "The Sultan's Seal"

As the Ottoman Empire was beginning to crumble in the late 1800s, Istanbul was an exciting but dangerous place to be. Jenny White is a noted anthropologist and expert on Turkish society and politics. In her debut novel The Sultan's Seal the Turkish capital is startled by the murder of a British woman -- and one thing in particular, when her body washes up on shore, stuns the city.

Don Knotts - 1999 interview

The actor who made Deputy Barney Fife a pop icon has died. Actor Don Knotts was a well-known star of television, film and stage, but was best known for his portrayal of the bumbling deputy sheriff of Mayberry. In 1999, Don Knotts wrote an autobiography called Barney Fife and Other Characters I Have Known.

Kevin Baker "Striver's Row"

An earnest young man arrives in New York during World War Two, and becomes involved in events that will shape not only his life, but the nation, in Kevin Baker's novel Striver's Row. As we learn, the young man is destined for greatness -- if he can survive.

John Feinstein "Last Dance"

A weekend in late March has become almost as big an American sports event as the Super Bowl. It's the NCAA men's basketball "Final Four," which in recent years has become renowned as the showcase of the best future NBA talent. In his book Last Dance, famed sportswriter John Feinstein shows how and why the Final Four has taken on such a significance.

William Gavin "The Ernesto 'Che' Guevara School for Wayward Girls"

It takes considerable skill these days to produce political satire that's as entertaining as the headlines real politicians seem capable of making. Former Nixon speechwriter William Gavin gives the real-life headlines a run for their money, in his political satire The Ernesto "Che" Guevara School for Wayward Girls, in which a former presidential speechwriter finds himself at the center of a race for the White House that is about to get real interesting.

Jane Bryant Quinn & Liz Perle

Former publishing executive Liz Perle admits she knows more about her friends' sex lives than about their money lives. And she had to confront her own financial attitudes after her marriage ended, a few years ago. Her new book is called Money, A Memoir, and we'll meet her in a few minutes. First, though, getting your financial house in order sounds like a weighty and joyless task, but popular financial writer Jane Bryant Quinn says it can be a lot easier than you think. Her book Smart and Simple Financial Strategies for Busy People is intended as a guide for those whose finances need some direction.

Eugene Linden "The Winds of Change"

Our climate is changing, and not for the better, and no one is paying any attention. At least, not those who are potentially in position to do something about it, writes environmental journalist Eugene Linden. In his book The Winds of Change he records his frustration at sounding an alarm that Americans can't, or won't, hear.

LaDawn Black "Stripped Bare"

If you're an African-American woman who believes that the only good black men are either already married, or they're gay, or that they only date white women, popular Baltimore radio talk show host LaDawn Black has a message for you. Her book Stripped Bare explodes all of those myths and sets you on the path to finding the man for you.

Linda Fairstein "Death Dance"

Since leaving public service, former Manhattan sex crimes prosecutor Linda Fairstein has established herself as one of America's most popular mystery writers. Her book Death Dance centers on a murder that takes place at one of New York's most glamorous locations, Lincoln Center, where there are literally thousands of potential suspects.

Harry Stout & Kristin Henderson

Is there anything left to explain about the Civil War? Since the hostilities ended 141 years ago, there have been thousands of books written on, it seems, every detail of the War Between the States. But Yale professor of American religious history Harry Stout thinks there is one key perspective that we've missed. We'll talk with him in a few minutes about his book Upon the Altar of the Nation. But first, it is self-evident that war changes people. What is not so self-evident is how it changes people who don't participate in combat, those who stay safely at home while their spouses, children, and parents go do the fighting. Kristin Henderson, herself a military spouse, explores the changes that take place, in her book While They're At War.

Charles Fishman "The Wal-Mart Effect"

Wal-Mart is the world's largest company. It is bigger than ExxonMobil, bigger than General Motors, bigger than General Electric. Its enormous buying power and market influence has saved American consumers billions of dollars. But at what cost? Charles Fishman, a senior writer at Fast Company and a Wal-Mart shopper himself, carefully examines the positive and the negative about the company in his book The Wal-Mart Effect.

Charles Pickering "Supreme Chaos"

It is the responsibility of the President of the United States to appoint federal judges and Supreme Court justices, and the responsibility of the U.S. Senate to "advise and consent" in that process. But in recent years, "advise and consent" has become "obstruct and delay." Now a former federal judge, whose nomination by President George W. Bush to the federal appeals bench was held up for years, has written a book calling for an end to the partisan bitterness that he says threatens the judiciary itself. Charles Pickering calls his book Supreme Chaos.

Karenna Gore Schiff "Lighting the Way"

Some of the most important work in advancing America in the twentieth century was done by women, whose names you would probably not recognize. Now nine of those women are profiled in a book by Karenna Gore Schiff, a journalist, lawyer, and eldest daughter of former Vice President Al Gore. Her book is called Lighting the Way.

James McManus "Physical"

James McManus is a baby boomer in his mid 50s, with typically prosperous American less-than-perfect personal health habits who agreed as a magazine assignment to have himself examined. And before you know it, McManus was at the Mayo Clinic for their 8-thousand-dollar executive physical. McManus writes about his health, and ours, and the health of the health-care system, in his book Physical.

Michael D'Antonio "Hershey"

What could be more American than the elegantly simple Hershey chocolate bar? It's so ubiquitous few people consider its storied history, and how it became an American icon. Journalist Michael D'Antonio shows us how, in his biography Hershey.

Dara Horn "The World to Come"

The theft of a Marc Chagall painting, during a museum singles event, by a former child prodigy who now writes questions for a TV game show, forms the basis of the Dara Horn novel The World to Come. The question of why the painting was stolen is soon enveloped in mysteries surrounding the painting itself, and the people whose lives it has touched.

Richard Carwardine & Jeffrey Manber

President's Day isn't for another week, a circumstance that obscures the fact that today is actually Abraham Lincoln's birthday. And we will commemorate his birthday by talking to the authors of two new books about the Lincoln presidency. British scholar Richard Carwardine draws parallels between Lincoln's rise to power, the rise of modern political parties, and evangelical Protestantism in his book Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power. But first, Jeffrey Manber, who describes a somewhat darker side to the Lincoln presidency -- with some lessons we could use today -- in his book Lincoln's Wrath.

David Traxel & Paul Clancy

It was a time in America when the rich were getting obscenely rich while the poor were barely getting by; when waves of immigrants were threatening to overwhelm the economy and society; when a young and controversial president was determined to leave his mark on the world, not just America. It sounds like we're talking about recent news, but it's actually the early years of the 20th century being described in David Traxel's new book Crusader Nation. We'll meet him in a few minutes. But first, the amazing story of a warship, the "USS Monitor," the history-making vessel built by the Union in the Civil War. Paul Clancy's new book about the Monitor's brief wartime deployment, its tragic and ironic demise, and its dramatic recovery is called Ironclad.

Neil Chethik "VoiceMale"

What do married men really think about marriage? Or sex, commitment, and intimacy? And housework? And will men ever really reveal what they really think? Writer Neil Chethik interviewed dozens of men, of all ages and all backgrounds, across the U.S. to get to their true feelings. His book is called VoiceMale.

Linda Donn "The Little Balloonist"

In early 19th century France, a young woman named Sophie Blanchard soared to fame, literally, by becoming one of the world's first female aeronauts, or balloonists. That much is fact. The love story that Linda Donn tells in her novel The Little Balloonist is fiction, although based on the real Sophie's life during the Napoleonic age.

Jill Conner Browne "The Sweet Potato Queens' Wedding Planner/Divorce Guide"

For a number of years now, the Jackson, Mississippi-based Sweet Potato Queens -- led by boss queen Jill Conner Browne -- have been dispensing advice on relationships, southern cooking, financial planning, and just being happy. And now Browne and the queens have come up with an all-in-one marriage and divorce book. The Sweet Potato Queens' Wedding Planner and Divorce Guide really is two books in one -- on one side, the wedding planner. Flip it over for the divorce guide.

Frank McKinney "Frank McKinney's Maverick Approach to Real Estate Success"

A few years ago, at age 21, Frank McKinney began buying foreclosed homes that needed some work, fixing them up, and turning them into affordable homes for first-time buyers. As he became more knowledgeable, McKinney grew more ambitious, and now builds mansions. On spec. And gets millions for them. McKinney now shares some of his unusual principles of success in his book Frank McKinney's Maverick Approach to Real Estate Success.

James Grippando "Got the Look"

Someone's kidnapping women in James Grippando's thriller Got the Look, and then making a cruel and unusual ransom demand. Grippando's hero, attorney Jack Swyteck, gets involved when his girlfriend becomes the kidnapper's latest victim.

Suzanne Hansen & Martha Sherrill

Today, the California experiences of two women form the basis of two new books, one fiction, the other nonfiction. Suzanne Hansen relives her years as a Hollywood nanny in her new book You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again. We'll meet her in a few minutes, but first, the novel that started as a memoir, in a kind of reverse James Frey scenario. Journalist Martha Sherrill started writing a memoir of her father, and what it was like for her growing up in California in the '70s. But when she learned something about her father's life that put everything into a wholly different perspective, she realized the story was going to be best told in fiction. Sherrill's novel, based on her story, is called The Ruins of California.

Michael Eric Dyson "Come Hell or High Water"

When Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans in August 2005, everyone expected that the federal government would rush massive aid into the city within hours. No one expected that days later, thousands of people would still be marooned in a city underwater. Now commentator Michael Eric Dyson retraces what happened, what went wrong, and who's to blame, in his book Come Hell or High Water.

Gail Godwin "Queen of the Underworld" & "The Making of a Writer"

The incomparable Gail Godwin joins us today, to talk about her two new books. Volume one of her journals is called The Making of a Writer: Journals, 1961-1963, while her new, semi-autobiographical novel is Queen of the Underworld.

Kwame Anthony Appiah & Michael LeGault

Don't we think anymore? Don't we listen anymore? The authors of two new books exhort their readers to think, and listen. Because the consequences of not thinking, and not listening, can be grave. Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah encourages a return to, as he calls his new book, Cosmopolitanism. We'll meet him in a few minutes. But first, journalist and former Washington Times columnist Michael LeGault speaks to anyone who's been intrigued by the "thinking without thinking" concept presented in Malcolm Gladwell's bestseller Blink. LeGault says Gladwell is wrong, and he explains why critical thinking is more critical than ever, in his new book Think!

Bernard-Henri Lévy "American Vertigo"

About 170 years ago, a liberal French politician and writer named Alexis de Tocqueville spent two years in America, studying the young country's character and its institutions, drawing conclusions in his book Democracy in America that are still being read and studied today. Now, French philosopher and journalist Bernard-Henri Lévy spent a year, post-9/11, traveling throughout the U.S. to get an update on Tocqueville's observations. Lévy's book is called American Vertigo.