A Change of Address

It's time to update the URL for THE BOOKCAST in your podcast aggregator.

We love Blogger, but it's time to have our own address.

Please make a note to modify the URL from the old one, which is "thebookcast.blogspot.com" to the new one, which is "thebookcast.com/latest.xml"

If you need help, feel free to email me and I can try to get you back on track: bill@eyeonbooks.com

In the meantime, to listen to today's program, and to subscribe to THE BOOKCAST or change the URL in your aggregator, you can go to www.thebookcast.com.

Thanks for listening!

Gary Berntsen & Greg Mortenson

Both of the men you'll meet today have been active in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but for vastly different reasons. We'll talk with Greg Mortenson, who, in the last dozen years or so has built more than 50 schools in some of the poorest rural areas of those countries. His book is called Three Cups of Tea. But first, we're going to meet Gary Berntsen. He went to Afghanistan in 2001, on a mission that came oh-so-close to succeeding, but fell short. His assignment was to find and capture, or kill, Osama bin Laden. His book is called Jawbreaker.

Rita Mae Brown "Sour Puss"

A murder in Virginia's wine country drives Rita Mae Brown's mystery Sour Puss. It's the thirteenth book in Brown's series of mysteries in which heroine Harry Haristeen gets to the bottom of a homicide, with the help of her cats, Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, and her dog Tee Tucker.

Larry L. King "In Search of Willie Morris"

When famed Harper's magazine editor and author Willie Morris died in 1999, among those who felt the sting the worst was his longtime friend and colleague, author Larry L. King. But it was when King set out to write a biography of his friend that he was forced to admit maybe he didn't know Willie as well as he thought he did. His book is called In Search of Willie Morris.

Judith Levine "Not Buying It"

Could you stop shopping for an entire year? What if you decided you were going to buy nothing but the barest necessities, for the next 365 days? Could you do it? Judith Levine did it, and writes about it in her book Not Buying It.

Molly Worthen & Anya Kamenetz

Today we'll meet two young women who are both recent graduates from Yale. And each has a bestselling book. Molly Worthen will join us to talk about the biography she's written about one of her professors, Charles Hill, called The Man On Whom Nothing Was Lost. But first we'll meet her fellow Yale alum Anya Kamenetz, whose new book Generation Debt is subtitled, "Why Now is a Terrible Time to be Young."

Anthony Rapp "Without You"

As a budding young actor, Anthony Rapp was in movies like "Adventures in Babysitting" and "Dazed and Confused." Later Rapp was part of the original cast of the Broadway hit "Rent," and later starred in the movie version, as well, in the role of videographer Mark Cohen. But in cruel contrast to the exhilaration of stardom, Rapp was forced at the same time to confront the approaching death of his mother from cancer, as he now describes in his book Without You.

Bruce Bartlett "Impostor"

President George W. Bush has betrayed the conservative movement, says a former member of the Reagan White House. Bruce Bartlett says Bush has turned his back on a tradition of fiscal conservatism and small government. But saying so publicly has a price. Bartlett lost his private-sector job, for writing his book Impostor.

Tee Morris "Podcasting For Dummies"

The next big thing in online communications is the phenomenon called podcasting. Hundreds of new podcasts are being launched every day, and there is no reason you can't have your own podcast, says Tee Morris. He is a novelist, a playwright, an actor, and a podcaster. And he is now your amiable guide as you embark on podcasting, with his book Podcasting For Dummies.

Laura Durham "For Better or Hearse"

In her day job, Laura Durham is Washington, D.C.'s top wedding planner, but when she's not doing that, she's writing comic cozy mysteries. Her second one, called For Better or Hearse, revolves around the untimely demise of an odious Washington chef, who's been impaled on an ice sculpture during a reception at a posh hotel. And when her friend is unjustly accused, wedding planner Annabelle Archer recruits herself to find the killer.

Sonia Nazario "Enrique's Journey"

Every day thousands of immigrants from Central America risk their lives to ride a train -- which they call the Train of Death -- through Mexico to the United States. And an alarming number of those on the train of death are children or teenagers, seeking the parents who have gone before them. The harrowing experience of one such youngster, a boy named Enrique, is told in Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Sonia Nazario's book Enrique's Journey.

Dennis Watlington "Chasing America"

As a teenager, he was a gang member, a heroin addict, and eventually a jail inmate. But Dennis Watlington turned his life around, through acting, teaching, and help from strong friends. His book Chasing America tells a young man's story, superimposed on the story of a nation going through its own difficult period of growth and maturation.

Loral Langemeier "The Millionaire Maker"

You could be a millionaire, just three to five years from today. Financial strategist Loral Langemeier says she can take anyone, regardless of their current money situation, and in three to five years make them worth seven figures. Her book is called The Millionaire Maker.

Joel Miller & Glenn Reynolds

Bigger is no longer necessarily better, whether you're talking about the arts and entertainment, manufacturing, government, even medical and space research. We are no longer a nation of Goliaths, says author Glenn Reynolds -- we are now, as he titles his new book, An Army of Davids. We'll talk with Glenn in a few minutes. But first, is big government really that bad? Why should we care how many federal regulations there are, or how many different taxing bodies affect us? Joel Miller says we better care, because government that keeps getting bigger and more bloated is squeezing America's workers, entrepeneurs, and families. His new book is called Size Matters.

Sarah Dunant "In the Company of the Courtesan"

The word courtesan has come to be synonymous with escort, call girl, mistress. But in its original context, a courtesan was a well-compensated companion to socially prominent European men of the Renaissance. Sarah Dunant's novel In the Company of the Courtesan takes us to Venice in the early 1500s, where we meet a 25-year-old courtesan named Fiammetta and the dwarf, Bucino, who is her pimp.