The Bookcast

A Change of Address

2006-03-15T00:40:00.000-05:00

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

2006-03-14T00:14:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-03-13T01:12:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-03-12T01:21:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-03-11T01:03:00.000-05:00

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

2006-03-11T01:01:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-03-09T01:14:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-03-09T00:49:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-03-07T01:15:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-03-06T01:12:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-03-05T00:21:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-03-04T02:04:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-03-03T01:26:00.000-05:00

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

2006-03-02T01:14:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-03-01T00:40:00.000-05:00

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.

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

2006-02-28T01:12:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-02-27T02:14:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-26T01:36:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-02-26T01:35:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-02-25T00:57:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-02-24T00:37:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-23T21:21:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-02-22T00:14:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-02-21T01:02:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-02-20T00:39:00.001-05:00

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

2006-02-20T00:39:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-02-18T00:45:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-02-16T23:52:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-02-16T01:17:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-02-15T01:20:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-02-14T01:59:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-02-13T01:14:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-12T00:56:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-11T01:58:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-02-10T00:41:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-02-09T00:40:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-02-08T01:26:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-02-07T01:43:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-02-06T03:43:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-05T01:10:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-02-04T00:54:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-02-03T00:17:00.000-05:00

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

2006-02-03T00:16:00.000-05:00

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"

2006-02-01T01:13:00.000-05:00

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.

Jonathan Adams & Scott Weidensaul

2006-01-31T01:11:00.000-05:00

America's wildlife is our focus today, with two new books that show how far we've come in protecting our resources, but also how far we still have to go. Scott Weidensaul's book Return to Wild America is a reminder of the progress of the last half century. We'll talk with him in a few minutes, but first, conservation biologist Jonathan Adams. In his new book The Future of the Wild he argues that America's wilderness can't be contained in a few large, but scattered, national parks.

Jesse Kellerman "Sunstroke"

2006-01-31T01:09:00.000-05:00

A woman secretly in love with her boss turns out to be the only one interested in retrieving his body when he dies under mysterious circumstances in Mexico, in the debut mystery-thriller by Jesse Kellerman called Sunstroke. As she finds out, though, there may be much more to her boss's story than she was prepared for.

Marisa de los Santos & Olga Grushin

2006-01-29T01:14:00.000-05:00

Today, we talk with the very talented authors of two debut novels. Russian-born Olga Grushin helps us see the moral ambiguities of Soviet life in the years just before glasnost, in her book The Dream Life of Sukhanov. But first, Marisa de los Santos, whose debut Love Walked In is an unusual love story between a 31-year-old woman and an 11-year-old girl.

Taylor Branch & Richard Reeves

2006-01-28T01:20:00.000-05:00

New books about two of the most towering figures of the latter half of the 20th century. Taylor Branch concludes his prizewinning trilogy on the life of Martin Luther King Jr. with his newest book At Canaan's Edge. We'll meet him in a few minutes, but first journalist Richard Reeves, who is also completing a trilogy about the most influential presidents of our time, with his new book President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination.

John Tayman "The Colony"

2006-01-27T00:29:00.000-05:00

For over one hundred years anyone in Hawaii diagnosed with leprosy was exiled to a remote peninsula on the island of Molokai, where, it was assumed, the disease would run its course and claim its victim's life. Over 8,000 people were banished to the colony before Hawaiian law was finally changed in 1969. Now writer John Tayman takes us inside what was once the world's best-known leper colony, in his book The Colony.

Arthur Japin "In Lucia's Eyes"

2006-01-26T09:38:00.000-05:00

In the 18th century, an Italian adventurer, soldier, spy, diplomat, and writer named Casanova wrote an autobiography that detailed his romances with scores of women across Europe. In his book, he briefly mentions a young servant girl, apparently his first romance. Her story is now imagined, in fiction, by Dutch writer Arthur Japin, in a novel called In Lucia's Eyes.

Kaye Gibbons "The Life All Around Me By Ellen Foster"

2006-01-25T01:20:00.000-05:00

We first met the character called Ellen Foster in 1986, in the debut novel by Kaye Gibbons called simply Ellen Foster. Ellen was a child of 11 in that book, an orphan who sought out her own foster family after being kicked out of the house by her aunt on Christmas day. The book has become a modern classic, an Oprah book club selection. And now it has a sequel. Gibbons calls the new book The Life All Around Me By Ellen Foster.

Leonard Steinhorn "The Greater Generation"

2006-01-24T00:54:00.000-05:00

The World War Two baby boom generation has been widely knocked for years as spoiled and self-centered, unable or unwilling to live up to the standards set by what has come to be known as The Greatest Generation. But American University communications professor -- and Baby Boomer -- Leonard Steinhorn argues that those born between '46 and '62 are pretty good, after all. His book is called The Greater Generation.

Michele Martinez "The Finishing School"

2006-01-23T01:30:00.000-05:00

A federal prosecutor in New York City is handed a case that turns out to be far more dangerous than it initially appears, in the mystery The Finishing School by former real-life federal prosecutor Michele Martinez. Her heroine, Melanie Vargas, must navigate through a political minefield as she tries to track down a nasty and ruthless villain.

Gail Sheehy "Sex and the Seasoned Woman"

2006-01-22T02:18:00.000-05:00

The stereotypical roles of middle-aged or older women just don't fit anymore, says bestselling author and cultural observer Gail Sheehy, who talked with hundreds of women over 40, or 50, and even over 90 for her new book Sex and the Seasoned Woman.

L. Paul Bremer & Peter Bergen

2006-01-21T00:40:00.000-05:00

Today, we'll talk with the man who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his role in helping reestablish democracy in postwar Iraq. Former Ambassador L. Paul Bremer joins us to talk about his book My Year in Iraq. But first, in light of this week's newest message to the west from Osama bin Laden, we'll meet one westerner who knows a great deal about the world's most-wanted man: CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen, whose new book is called The Osama bin Laden I Know.

Linda Carroll & Thulani Davis

2006-01-20T01:03:00.000-05:00

There are two new memoirs, by women seeking the truth about their heritage. Thulani Davis's book My Confederate Kinfolk recounts her search for the white ancestors in her black family. We'll talk with her in a few minutes, but first .. in her new book called Her Mother's Daughter Linda Carroll writes about finding her place in a lineage that includes her mother, writer Paula Fox, and her daughter, rock star Courtney Love.

Dr. Brenda Shoshanna "The Anger Diet"

2006-01-19T01:21:00.000-05:00

Millions of Americans are poisoning themselves with a toxic substance, and they may not even know it. New York psychologist Dr. Brenda Shoshanna says that substance is anger, and it can kill you, but not before making you and everyone around you miserable. What you need, she says, is a program to wean you from your anger, a "diet" from anger. That's her new book, The Anger Diet.

Peter Schechter & Tom Gabbay

2006-01-18T00:54:00.000-05:00

America spends billions of dollars a year fighting the drug trade, but still tons of drugs are smuggled into the country every day. Now debut novelist Peter Schechter imagines, what if those highly skilled drug smugglers from Colombia were recruited by one of America's enemies to smuggle something far more dangerous into the U.S.? We'll talk with him about his new book Point of Entry in a few minutes. But first .. a plot to assassinate the President is hardly a new idea, in fiction. But former network TV executive Tom Gabbay puts a unique spin on the concept in his debut thriller The Berlin Conspiracy. In his book, the year is 1963, the target of the assassination plot is John F. Kennedy, but the location is not Dallas. It's East Germany.

Louis Sachar "Small Steps"

2006-01-17T00:29:00.000-05:00

When last we met this teenager nicknamed Armpit, he was at Camp Green Lake, along with a bunch of other teen offenders, digging holes, in Louis Sachar’s bestselling book for young readers called Holes. Now, in Sachar’s book Small Steps, Armpit is back in his hometown of Austin, Texas, working as a landscaper. Still digging holes, but at least he’s doing honest work. That is, until his old Camp Green Lake buddy X-Ray shows up with a moneymaking scheme.

J.B. Stanley "A Killer Collection"

2006-01-16T01:44:00.000-05:00

Who knew that taking an interest in antiques and collectibles could get someone killed? In J.B. Stanley's debut mystery, a cozy called A Killer Collection, writer Molly Appleby accompanies her antiques-loving mother to a kiln opening, where -- wouldn't you know it? -- an obnoxious collector ends up dead.

Ana Marie Cox "Dog Days"

2006-01-15T00:37:00.000-05:00

The blogosphere knows her as Wonkette. Now Washington, D.C. insider Ana Marie Cox is also a novelist. Her debut book is an inside-the-Beltway, election-year roman à clef called Dog Days.

Kate Michelman & Kate O'Beirne

2006-01-14T00:01:00.000-05:00

Kate O'Beirne, the Washington editor of the "National Review," names names and takes no prisoners in her assessment of, as her book calls them, Women Who Make the World Worse. Among them are people like Hillary Rodham Clinton, Gloria Steinem, Maureen Dowd, and Kate Michelman. We'll talk with Kate O'Beirne in a few minutes, but first, it's Kate Michelman. After two decades at the forefront of the battle to protect a woman's right to a safe, legal abortion in the U.S., Michelman has written what's described as a political memoir of her role in that fight. It's called With Liberty and Justice For All.

W.E.B. Griffin & John Perkins

2006-01-13T00:43:00.000-05:00

John Perkins is retired now, but he used to be a hit man: an "economic hit man," a term he explains in his bestselling memoir Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. We'll meet him in a few minutes, but first, bestselling military-thriller writer W.E.B. Griffin visits, as we talk about his new book The Hostage, plus why he is not bothered by the idea of the NSA listening in on our conversations.

Stephen Bronner "Blood in the Sand"

2006-01-12T01:31:00.000-05:00

Politics in America, post-9/11, are brought into sharp focus and come under sharp criticism in a book by Stephen Eric Bronner, senior editor of the online journal "Logos." Bronner analyzes what's been characterized as a crisis of democracy, jabbing politicians on the right as well as the left in his book Blood in the Sand.

Pamela Winnick & Alan Burdick

2006-01-11T01:55:00.000-05:00

The human habitat now reaches to every corner of the planet, as people move freely about in ways nature could never have imagined -- taking with them other creatures, transplanting living things to new environments. Science writer Alan Burdick studies "invasion biology" in his new book Out of Eden. But first: religion and science, which have always, to some extent, been at odds. The author of a new book argues that the nature of the antagonism has shifted. It used to be heroic scientists versus harsh and unbending religion. Now it's science that is throwing its weight around, says Pamela Winnick, whose book is called A Jealous God.

Carl Weber "So You Call Yourself a Man"

2006-01-10T00:23:00.000-05:00

Three guys who have been best friends as long as they can remember have their love lives sorely tested, in Carl Weber's novel So You Call Yourself a Man. One is in a happy marriage, which evidence of a past indiscretion now threatens. Another's wife has just left him, and the third is a good Christian who nevertheless finds that temptation is too much for him.

Edvard Radzinsky "Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar"

2006-01-09T00:30:00.000-05:00

He freed his country's slaves in the middle of the 19th century, was revered by many but reviled by just as many, and was ultimately assassinated. But it's not Abraham Lincoln we're referring to -- it was Russian tsar Alexander II. Now well-known Russian historian Edvard Radzinsky reveals the life Alexander led, in his book Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar.

Joe Conason "The Raw Deal"

2006-01-08T00:47:00.000-05:00

President Bush has been a strong proponent of Social Security reform, but many people remain unconvinced that even if Social Security is in as much trouble as we're told it is, that the Bush "reform" is really the answer. Joe Conason explains the flaws in the Bush privatization plan, in his book The Raw Deal.

David Roll "Louis Johnson And the Arming of America"

2006-01-07T00:17:00.000-05:00

The name Louis Johnson does not come immediately to mind, when discussing the key American leaders of the World War Two era. But as Washington, D.C. attorney David Roll points out in his book Louis Johnson And the Arming of America, he was a man who played a major role in building America's military might, even before we were drawn into the war.

Bruce Chadwick "The First American Army"

2006-01-06T01:50:00.000-05:00

Our collective knowledge about the Revolutionary War is based largely on the actions of a relative handful of men, the group of leaders that includes, for example, George Washington. But that is an incomplete version of the war. Historian Bruce Chadwick brings the war into focus a different way, in his book The First American Army. He looks at it through the eyes of eight ordinary men, the citizen-soldiers who took time out from their everyday occupations and fought a well-trained British army -- and won.

Katrina vanden Heuvel "The Dictionary of Republicanisms"

2006-01-05T01:37:00.000-05:00

Have American politics reached the point where we need a special dictionary just to figure out what politicians are really saying? The longtime editor of "The Nation," Katrina vanden Heuvel, says figuring out what Republicans really mean does require some translation. With the assistance of hundreds of the magazine's readers, vanden Heuvel has assembled a book she calls The Dictionary of Republicanisms.

Greg Critser "Generation Rx"

2006-01-04T01:40:00.000-05:00

Journalist Greg Critser has been writing about the pharmaceutical industry for several years, but was struck by a 2002 study showing that the average use of prescription drugs in the U.S. had doubled in only about 12 years' time. One out of every two Americans now takes at least one prescription drug a day, and one out of six people takes three or more prescriptions a day. Critser wanted to find out why. The result is his book Generation Rx.

Richard Boyatzis "Resonant Leadership"

2006-01-03T01:42:00.000-05:00

Mindfulness and hope are among the key ingredients in business success, says the co-author of a book that identifies what it takes to achieve "resonance." Richard Boyatzis speaks to leaders at all levels in his book Resonant Leadership.

C.T. Adams "Moon's Web"

2006-01-02T01:17:00.000-05:00

Can a shapeshifter who used to be a contract killer, and his new human bride find true happiness? There are plenty of challenges to their new marriage, in the C.T. Adams fantasy romance Moon's Web, written with her co-author Cathy Clamp. In this book, a kidnapper has shaken up the shapeshifter community in a big way, and only former mob hitman Tony Giodone can make things right again.

Brian Tracy "Something for Nothing"

2006-01-01T00:32:00.000-05:00

It's said that the love of money is the root of all evil, but the love of getting something for nothing is a powerful motivator, too, says bestselling author and personal development consultant Brian Tracy. In his book Something For Nothing, Tracy explains how the "gimme" mentality is corroding society from the inside out, and why we better stop it.

Adam Phillips

2005-12-31T02:28:00.000-05:00

We have dozens of ways to describe insanity, but there is no agreement on -- not even a medical definition of -- sanity. Psychotherapist Adam Phillips calls upon his own clinical experience as well as research to ask us to consider "saneness," in his book Going Sane.

Paul Lukacs

2005-12-30T00:47:00.000-05:00

Some of the best wines in the world are now made in America, and not just in California, either. Wine columnist Paul Lukacs took on the task of trying to identify America's best, in his book The Great Wines of America. But his is a book not just about hardy grapes, and wine, but about the hardy people who run the vineyards.

James Moore

2005-12-29T01:06:00.000-05:00

The history of the United States can be told through the prayers of its people, says the author of a book that traces that history. James Moore undertook an unprecedented study of prayer in America and found that it has been far more ubiquitous and influential than many have previously understood. His book is called One Nation Under God.

June Fletcher

2005-12-28T01:07:00.000-05:00

Seven out of ten Americans are now homeowners, many of them encouraged by an incredible rise in home prices in recent years. But the air has already begun leaking out of that bubble, says Wall Street Journal writer June Fletcher. Her book House Poor is aimed at preparing homeowners and potential homebuyers for the emerging downturn.

Arlene Blum

2005-12-27T00:54:00.000-05:00

Arlene Blum has been places only a handful of other human beings have ever seen. She's now retired, but until 1993 she was a world-class mountain-climber and expedition leader. Now Blum pauses to look back on her life and career in a book called Breaking Trail.

Mysteries of 2005

2005-12-26T02:03:00.000-05:00

There were some fine mysteries published in 2005, by authors well-known and some who are not yet. On today's Mystery Monday on THE BOOKCAST, we've put together a brief retrospective of our interviews this year with some of the world's top mystery writers.

Jody Rosen & Jeff Guinn

2005-12-25T01:49:00.000-05:00

Today, apropos to what day it is, two interviews from our recent archive. We'll go back to an interview I did about a year ago with Jeff Guinn, the author of the The Autobiography of Santa Claus, revealing that while the cartoonish Santa is mostly made-up, there is actually a lot more historical fact behind the Santa story than most people realize. But first, my interview from 2002 with music journalist Jody Rosen, whose book White Christmas tells the story behind the song first made popular in 1942 by Bing Crosby and which is now one of the world's favorite holiday tunes.

Jan Karon

2005-12-24T00:01:00.000-05:00

For nine years writer Jan Karon has built a huge following for her series of novels about a minister named Father Tim, set in a small town called Mitford, books she says are simply about "decent, ordinary people living ordinary lives." But the Mitford Years novels have now run their course, and Karon has wrapped up the series with her ninth Mitford novel, called Light From Heaven.

Peter Post

2005-12-23T00:05:00.000-05:00

Every couple has conflicts, but many of those conflicts can be resolved quickly and easily if you know what to do about them, says Peter Post. He's the great-grandson of the original etiquette maven Emily Post, and his book Essential Manners for Couples is based in large part on surveys taken by the Emily Post Institute.

Maureen Dowd

2005-12-22T02:18:00.000-05:00

It's been thirty-plus years since the feminist revolution, and we still haven't solved anything in the gender wars, it would appear. With a generous helping of humor, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd zeroes in on some of the ways men and women are still trying to make peace in her book Are Men Necessary?

Brad Meltzer

2005-12-21T02:34:00.000-05:00

Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman head an all-star cast of DC Comics superheroes in an unusual book by popular thriller writer Brad Meltzer. Identity Crisis pulls together a seven-issue comic book series in which the superheroes must find a killer who's making it personal, by attacking their loved ones.

Larry Beinhart

2005-12-20T00:25:00.000-05:00

Novelist and political columnist Larry Beinhart coined a term in 2004, in his novel The Librarian. Referring to information that has been published, covered in the media, but then lost in the public consciousiness, Beinhart came up with the phrase "fog facts." Facts that somehow get lost in the fog of right-wing Republican obfuscation. Beinhart has now written a book called Fog Facts.

David Lozell Martin

2005-12-19T02:35:00.000-05:00

A Native American protest group vandalizes the St. Louis gateway arch, in David Lozell Martin's thriller Facing Rushmore. But are they terrorists? Or is the power these protestors seem to wield coming from a source that has struck fear in the white man's heart for generations?

Nancy Baggett

2005-12-18T02:16:00.000-05:00

Nothing's as American as apple pie, but there are thousands of other things Americans also call dessert, and now famed cookbook author Nancy Baggett has collected recipes from all over the country, for her book The All-American Dessert Book.

David Vise

2005-12-17T00:14:00.000-05:00

A few years ago Larry Page and Sergey Brin were just a couple of postgraduate students with a strong desire for a better Internet search engine. Today they are billionaires, after founding Google, the juggernaut that is redefining not just the web, but information handling of all kinds. Washington Post reporter David Vise provides the details of Google's amazing rise in his book The Google Story.

Jef Mallett

2005-12-16T00:55:00.000-05:00

One of the rising new stars in the funny pages is a likeable young elementary school janitor named Frazz, who is also a musician as well as, it seems, philosopher, counselor, and best bud to his pre-adolescent cartoon-mates. Frazz is the creation of cartoonist Jef Mallett, whose first collection of strips is called Frazz: Live from Bryson Elementary.

Diana Gabaldon

2005-12-15T01:37:00.000-05:00

The three years leading up to the American Revolution are momentous years for the main characters of Diana Gabaldon's novel A Breath of Snow and Ashes, the sixth book in her immensely popular Outlander series. Jamie Fraser and his wife Clare, a time-traveler from the twentieth century, face harrowing new challenges -- and an event that seems pre-destined.

Mireille Guiliano

2005-12-14T00:49:00.000-05:00

When she was a teenager, French-born Mireille Guiliano came to America as an exchange student. And gained twenty pounds. Back home in France, her family doctor shared with her the secrets French women have known for generations, about eating properly so as not to gain weight. Now Guiliano shares those secrets in her bestselling book French Women Don't Get Fat.

Frank McCourt

2005-12-13T00:20:00.000-05:00

At age 66 Frank McCourt wrote his first book, Angela's Ashes, a powerful memoir of a childhood in poverty in Ireland. He followed up that book with another, about his years as a young man in America. Now the trilogy is complete, with McCourt's memoir of 30 years of teaching in the New York City public school system. He calls it Teacher Man.

Lea Wait

2005-12-12T00:54:00.000-05:00

Maggie Summer is an antiques dealer, a history professor, and a solver of crimes in the series of cozy mysteries by Lea Wait. The fourth in the series, Shadows at the Spring Show, finds Maggie organizing an antique fair for charity. The trouble begins when someone begins sending threatening letters.

Art Buchwald

2005-12-11T01:16:00.000-05:00

Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist Art Buchwald has no equal. He has been writing about the absurdity of Washington since the Eisenhower administration, and has never been at a loss for words. His latest collection of columns is called Beating Around the Bush.

Sandra Boynton

2005-12-10T01:35:00.000-05:00

"The train goes nowhere, but it goes there fast," is what it says on the back cover of a book-and-CD for children called Dog Train.A creative team headed by illustrator and songwriter Sandra Boynton assembled an all-star musical cast to bring the songs in Dog Train to life.

John Hodgman

2005-12-09T00:16:00.000-05:00

Complete world knowledge, is what writer John Hodgman promises in his book The Areas of My Expertise. The fact that the knowledge is all wrong, plausible yet completely fictional, is beside the point. Hodgman's book is a shrewd literary parody, an homage to the traditional almanac.

Mark Crispin Miller

2005-12-08T00:40:00.000-05:00

We wuz robbed. So says the author of a book that lays out evidence that the 2004 presidential election was stolen by forces determined to return George W. Bush to the White House for a second term. And critic and political commentator Mark Crispin Miller warns, in his book Fooled Again, that it could happen again if we let it.

Jonathan Harr

2005-12-07T01:40:00.000-05:00

How a young Italian graduate student and a 91-year-old British scholar teamed up to recover a famous lost masterpiece is told in journalist Jonathan Harr's book The Lost Painting. Using the same narrative technique that made his book A Civil Action a major bestseller, Harr recreates the dusty, sometimes dangerous trail that led to the priceless masterpiece by Caravaggio.