Reader's Corner

An interview with Sy Montgomery, author of What the Chicken Knows. Part science writing, part personal narrative, the book explores the surprising traits and unique personalities of the world’s most recognizable bird.

An interview with Greg Barnhisel, author of Code Name Puritan. The book is a fascinating biography of Norman Holmes Pearson, an unassuming literary scholar and part-time spy who transformed postwar American culture.

An interview with Maria Popova, co-author of the new book, Russia and Ukraine: Entangled Histories, Diverging States. The book examines how the fall of the Soviet Union started an identity and regime divergence between Russia and Ukraine, and set both countries on an inevitable collision course.

An interview with Mark Greaney, author of the new thriller, Midnight Black. The book is a taut new addition to Greaney’s bestselling Gray Man series.

An interview with David Rohde, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Where Tyranny Begins. In the book, Rohde details how Donald Trump used threats, co-option, and conspiracy theories to bend DOJ and FBI officials to his will.

An interview with Lindsey Cormack, author of the new book, How to Raise a Citizen. The book is a practical guide to nurturing the next generation of responsible, informed citizens.

An interview with Bryce Andrews, author of the new book, Holding Fire. The book is a memoir of inheritance, history, and one gun’s role in the violence that shaped the American West.

An interview with Hansen Shi, author of the thrilling new novel, The Expat. The book follows a young businessman who travels to China for a job offer, only to find himself thrust into a world of corporate espionage.

An interview with Adam Higginbotham, author of Challenger. The book is a thrilling minute-by-minute account of the 1986 Challenger shuttle disaster, based on new archival research.

An interview with Marcel Dirsus, author of How Tyrants Fall. The book is a deeply-researched examination of how dictators are overthrown, and what happens to nations in the aftermath.

An interview with Brian Rosenwald, author of the book, Talk Radio's America. The book takes a close look at the infotainment format pioneered by Rush Limbaugh on AM radio, and the effect it had on the Republican party.

An interview with Rob Hart, author of the new novel, Assassins Anonymous. The book is a thrilling story of suspense, murder, and redemption, as a reformed hitman tries to stay on the straight and narrow while running for his life.

An interview with Arlie Russell Hochschild, author of Stolen Pride. Set in Appalachia, the book takes a hard look at the “pride paradox” that has given the Right Wing’s appeals such resonance.

An interview with Melissa B. Jacoby, author of the new book, Unjust Debts. The book offers an incisive look at the hidden role of bankruptcy in perpetuating inequality in America.

An interview with Amor Towles, bestselling author of the new book, Table for Two. The book is a collection of short fiction based in New York, along with a novella set in the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Note: This is an encore episode of Reader's Corner. The episode originally aired in June 2022. An interview with David Gelles, author of The Man Who Broke Capitalism: How Jack Welch Gutted the Heartland and Crushed the Soul of Corporate America―and How to Undo His Legacy. In the book, Gelles profiles the man who ushered in a new, cutthroat era of American capitalism that continues to this day

An interview with Timothy Snyder, author of the new book, On Freedom. The book is an exploration of the American ideal of freedom—what it is, how it’s been misunderstood, and why it may be our only chance for survival.

An interview with Sergey Radchenko, author of the new book, To Run the World. The book offers a detailed portrait of Russian leadership during the Cold War, helming a sprawling nation with irreconcilable ambitions as a self-proclaimed superpower and the leader of global revolution.

An interview with Illia Ponomarenko, author of the new book, I Will Show You How It Was. The book is powerful and personal chronicle of the war in Ukraine from the front lines.

Note: This is an encore edition of Reader's Corner. The episode originally aired in August 2022. An interview with Scott Weidensaul, author of A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds. The book is exhilarating exploration of the science and wonder of global bird migration.