Episodes

  • Heath Hardage Lee- The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon
    Nov 24 2024

    In America’s collective consciousness, Pat Nixon has long been perceived as enigmatic. She was voted “Most Admired Woman in the World” in 1972 and made Gallup Poll’s top ten list of most admired women fourteen times. She survived the turmoil of the Watergate scandal with her popularity and dignity intact. And yet, the media often portrayed Mrs. Nixon as elusive and mysterious. The real Pat Nixon, however, bore little resemblance to the woman so often described in the press. Pat married California lawyer Richard Nixon in June of 1940, becoming a wife, mother, and her husband’s trusted political partner in short order. As the couple rose to prominence, Pat became Second Lady from 1953-1961 and then First Lady from 1969-1974, forging her own graceful path between the protocols of the strait-laced mid-century and the bra-burning Sixties and Seventies. About Heath Hardage Lee: Heath Hardage Lee is an award-winning historian, biographer, and curator. Heath’s second book, The League of Wives is being developed into a television series. Heath and her work have been featured on the Today Show, C-Span, and on the Smithsonian Channel’s America’s Hidden Stories. She also writes about history and politics for publications such as Time, The Hill, The Atlantic and White House History Quarterly. She lives in Roanoke, Virginia, with her husband Chris, her children Anne Alston and James, and her French bulldog Dolly Parton.

    Show more Show less
    19 mins
  • Will Dean- The Chamber
    Nov 23 2024

    From Will Dean, acclaimed author of the “breathless” (New York Times) The Last One, which also went viral as Marc Sebastian’s book club pick aboard the 9-month world cruise, comes his next nightmarish read: THE CHAMBER (Atria/Emily Bestler Books). And Then There Were None meets The Last Breath in this tense and claustrophobic locked-room thriller following a team of divers working to make repairs deep in the North Sea. Six experienced divers are sealed inside a hyperbaric chamber for their own safety. Rapid decompression would be fatal. They must breathe helium to survive in their uncomfortably close quarters. They’re entirely dependent on each other and the ship’s crew. The smallest mistake could be lethal. Then one of them is found dead in his bunk. They have four days of decompression to go before the locked hatch to the chamber can be safely opened. When yet another diver is found dead, everyone is on edge. Is something in the chamber faulty? Or is one of them a killer? And will any of them still be alive by the time the four days is up or will the pressure destroy them all? ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Will Dean grew up in the UK. After studying at the LSE and working in London, he settled in Sweden where he built a wooden house in the middle of a vast forest, and it's from this base that he compulsively reads and writes. His books have been shortlisted for the National Book Awards (UK) and named Telegraph book of the year.

    Show more Show less
    19 mins
  • William Cooper- How America Works…and Why It Doesn’t: A Brief Guide to the US Political System
    Nov 21 2024

    How America Works…and Why It Doesn’t: A Brief Guide to the US Political System by William Cooper.

    Cooper validates something we’ve all been feeling lately: that twenty-first-century America isn’t working the way it’s supposed to. He sets out to provide a non-partisan assessment of the ongoing challenges faced by American democracy, explaining key aspects of US political history to give the background to recent, dangerous developments. Cooper also shows how these recent developments have their roots in the deeper past, with the establishment of the political system in the first place and all the knocks and tweaks to it along the way. And he reveals how the US Supreme Court is now exacerbating polarization instead of acting as an effective check on executive power.

    WILLIAM COOPER is an attorney, author, and national columnist. His writings have appeared in hundreds of publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Newsweek, CNN, Washington Post, and San Francisco Chronicle. He lives in Northern California. Here's what people are saying about his book:

    Show more Show less
    14 mins
  • Brian Fairbanks- Willie, Waylon, and the Boys How Nashville Outsiders Changed Country Music Forever
    Nov 21 2024

    The tragic and inspiring story of the leaders of Outlaw country and their influence on today’s Alt-County and Americana superstars, tracing a path from Waylon Jennings’ survival on the Day the Music Died through to the Highwaymen and on to the current creative and commercial explosion of Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Zach Bryan, Jason Isbell, and the Highwomen.

    About the Author

    Brian Fairbanks was an investigative reporter at Gawker and the Consumerist. He has also written for the Guardian, Business Insider, the New York Observer, Nerve, and many more outlets, and is the author of Wizards: David Duke, America’s Wildest Election, and the Rise of the Far Right.

    Show more Show less
    22 mins
  • Chris Raymond-Men in White: The Gutsy, Against-All-Odds Return of Penn State Football
    Nov 17 2024

    For decades, Penn State football stood for greatness, on the field and off. Under legendary Coach Joe Paterno, the program was known for doing things the right way – or, as Paterno dubbed it, “success with honor.” But on Saturday, November 5, 2011, everything the team stood for came crashing down. The horrific crimes of former assistant Jerry Sandusky are now well known, but what’s often overlooked is the heroism of the young men who rallied to raise Penn State football from the ashes – guys like Christian Hackenberg, John Urschel, Saquon Barkley, Carl Nassib, and Trace McSorley. Acclaimed writer Chris Raymond paints an amazing, behind-the-scenes portrait of their inspiring journey, with his new book, MEN IN WHITE: The Gutsy, Against-All-Odds Return of Penn State Football (St. Martin’s Press). About the Author: Chris Raymond has covered sports, politics, and pop culture for 30 years. In addition to various longtime roles at ESPN, Raymond has also been on staff and written and edited for Details, Esquire, and GQ. He lives with his wife and two sons in Westchester County, New York. #pennstatefootball #pennstatenittanylions #pennstate

    Show more Show less
    17 mins
  • Jeffrey Archer- An Eye for an Eye
    Nov 16 2024

    AN EYE FOR AN EYE (HarperCollins) is the penultimate in the William Warwick series, a remarkable character study of two men—William Warwick and Miles Faulkner—and a modern take on the Holmes/Moriarity dynamic. Warwick is now a Chief Superintendent at Scotland Yard, now head of the Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Unit, and Miles Faulkner is behind bars. In this dance of morality between these two men, Archer has opened rich narrative possibilities in the dark interlocking network of power and money around the world, from arms deals to the art market. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jeffrey Archer, whose novels include the Clifton Chronicles, the William Warwick novels and Kane and Abel, is one of the world's bestselling authors, with sales of over 275 million copies around the world. Famous for his discipline as a writer who works on up to fourteen drafts of each book, Jeffrey also brings a vast amount of insider knowledge to his books. Whether it’s his own career in politics, his passionate interest in art, or the wealth of fascinating background detail – inspired by the extraordinary network of friends he has built over a lifetime at the heart of Britain’s establishment – his novels provide a fascinating glimpse into a range of closed worlds. A member of the House of Lords, the author is married to Dame Mary Archer, and they have two sons, two granddaughters and three grandsons. He splits his time between London, Grantchester in Cambridge, and Mallorca where he writes the first draft of each new novel.

    Show more Show less
    18 mins
  • Lincoln Child- Preston & Child -Angel of Vengeance
    Nov 9 2024

    Preston & Child continue their #1 bestselling series featuring FBI Special Agent Pendergast and Constance Greene, as they take a final stand against New York’s deadliest serial killer: Pendergast’s own ancestor…and Constance’s greatest enemy.

    About the Author The thrillers of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child “stand head and shoulders above their rivals” (Publishers Weekly). Preston and Child’s Relic and The Cabinet of Curiosities were chosen by readers in a National Public Radio poll as being among the one hundred greatest thrillers ever written, and Relic was made into a number-one box office hit movie. They are coauthors of the famed Pendergast series and their recent novels include Crooked River, Old Bones, Verses for the Dead, and City of Endless Night. In addition to his novels, Douglas Preston writes about archaeology for The New Yorker and National Geographic magazines. Lincoln Child is a Florida resident and former book editor who has published seven novels of his own, including bestsellers such as Full Wolf Moon and Deep Storm. Readers can sign up for The Pendergast File, a monthly “strangely entertaining note” from the authors, at their website, http://www.PrestonChild.com. The authors welcome visitors to their alarmingly active Facebook page, where they post regularly.

    Show more Show less
    26 mins
  • Kim Mager- A Hunger to Kill
    Nov 6 2024

    On procedurals like Law & Order SVU, viewers often note that the plots are ripped from the headlines. It’s tempting to think that news and TV dramas give us an understanding of the reality of investigating serious crimes. In fact, few know what it’s like to investigate these harrowing cases. Detective Kim Mager, a 30-year veteran of the Ashland City Police in Ohio, knows firsthand what it’s like to take down some of the worst criminals imaginable. In A Hunger to Kill: A Serial Killer, a Determined Detective, and the Quest for a Confession That Changed a Small Town Forever, co-written with New York Times bestselling author Lisa Pulitzer, she reveals how she closed in on—and broke—one of Ohio’s most infamous serial killers. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Detective KIM MAGER is a 30-year law enforcement officer who retired from the Ashland City Police in 2022. Mager works for a prosecutor’s office and still holds a law enforcement commission. Mager specializes in sex offenses, violent crime, and child abuse and has investigated over 2,000 cases. She has a BA from Ashland University and graduated Top Gun of her Police Academy. Mager is married to husband, Dan, and they have three children, Corbin, Macy, and Reed. LISA PULITZER is a former correspondent for the New York Times. She is the author of more than a dozen non-fiction titles, including New York Times bestseller Stolen Innocence (with Elissa Wall) and Portrait of a Monster: Joran van der Sloot, a Murder in Peru, and the Natalee Holloway Mystery (with Cole Thompson).

    Show more Show less
    22 mins