History Author Show

Latest Episodes:

Jenni L. Walsh – Side by Side: A Novel of Bonnie and Clyde Sep 24, 2018

Show notes

September 24, 2018 - Our time machine welcomes aboard infamous bank robbing-legends Bonnie and Clyde, as they tear a gash across 1930s America at the height of the Great Depression. Returning to ride shotgun with us on this crime spree is Jenni L. Walsh, who we chatted with about her debut novel, the stand-alone origin story Becoming Bonnie. Jenni's sophomore book isn't a sequel, but the edge-of-your-seat crime spree work of fiction Side by Side: A Novel of Bonnie and Clyde. In it, we meet a very different couple in a crippled America. Instead of basking in Bonnie's love, snug in her arms, Clyde is suffering the abuse that helps harden his heart in a Texas prison. Visit our guest at JenniLWalsh.com and follow her @JenniLWalsh on Twitter.

Theodore P. Savas – The War Outside My Window: The Civil War Diary of LeRoy Wiley Gresham, 1860-1865 Aug 27, 2018

Show notes

August 27, 2018 - Our time machine whirls us back to the Civil War sickbed of 12-year-old LeRoy Wiley Gresham. This young voice of the Old South in Macon, Georgia -- rendered an invalid after a mysterious accident, and ignorant of the tuberculosis marching him towards an early grave -- left us the only diary of a male, teenage non-combatant. Savas Beatie LLC, "Publisher of Historical Titles of Distinction," brings us this poignant, insightful and witty diary for the very first time, edited by Janet E. Croon. The book is The War Outside My Window: The Civil War Diary of LeRoy Wiley Gresham, 1860-1865. Our guest is Theodore P. Savas -- attorney, author, publishing consultant, agent, and the managing director of Savas Beatie. Ted acquired the diaries and did what historians thought impossible: Added a fresh new voice to our understanding of the Civil War. On top of The War Outside My Window, LeRoy's first-person description of spinal tuberculosis is also the only record of its kind in the world. You can deliver into that story in the companion book, I Am Perhaps Dying: The Medical Backstory of Spinal Tuberculosis Hidden in the Civil War Diary of Leroy Wiley Gresham, by Dennis A. Rasbach MD FACS and Janet Croon. You can also visit the Gresham home where LeRoy lived, wrote, and died at The 1842 Inn. Visit SavasBeatie.com for details, follow them on Twitter at SavasBeattieLLC, and find Janet Croon's reflections at TheWarOutsideMyWindow.blogspot.com or Facebook.com/LeRoyWileyGresham. Check out our interviews with these other fine Savas Beatie authors: · Gene Barr -- A Civil War Captain and His Lady: Love, Courtship, and Combat from Fort Donelson through the Vicksburg Campaign. · Noah Andre Trudeau -- Lincoln’s Greatest Journey: Sixteen Days that Changed a Presidency, March 24 – April 8, 1865. · Stephen Davis -- A Long and Bloody Task: The Atlanta Campaign from Dalton through Kennesaw to the Chattahoochee, May 5-July 18, 1864, and its companion paperback, All the Fighting They Want: The Atlanta Campaign from Peach Tree Creek to the City’s Surrender, July 18-September 2, 1864.

Fiona Davis – The Masterpiece: A Novel Aug 13, 2018

Show notes

August 13, 2018 - We welcome Fiona Davis back into our time machine, where she'll be painting a fresh story of art, mystery, intrigue, lies and love. The book is . If you enjoyed Fiona Davis's previous works -- The Dollhouse, about the famed Barbizon Hotel for Women, and The Address, which stars the legendary Dakota apartment complex -- you'll want to hop a train for The Masterpiece: A Novel. It's set in the Grand Central Depot of its 1920's heyday and the 1970s, In those dark days, wrecking balls threatened obliteration, a fate avoided through the efforts of Jackie Kennedy and a group of dedicated New Yorkers. You can enjoy my chat with Fiona about that sophomore novel, The Address, in our archives at HistoryAuthor.com or wherever you're listening. Visit Fiona online at FionaDavis.net, Facebook.com/FionaDavisAuthor or @FionaJDavis on Twitter.

Richard Pyves – Courage, Sacrifice and Betrayal: The Story of the Victoria Rifles of Canada, 60th Battalion, in the First World War Jul 30, 2018

Show notes

July 30, 2018 - Our time machine travels back to the Western Front of the Great War, and enlists with the 60th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, which captured the villages of Vimy and Petit Vimy, in the pivotal battle for Vimy Ridge. Author Rick Pyves contacted 2,500 living relatives of the soldiers through Ancestry, uncovering 86 personal recollections and letters as well as over 200 photos for Courage, Sacrifice and Betrayal - The Story of the Victoria Rifles of Canada, 60th Battalion in the First World War. One of those relatives is our own resident genealogist, Catherine, who offers her research services through HistoryAuthor.com/FamilyHistory. Her grandfather's first cousin, Private Charles Henry Mainwaring, gave his life in the 60th Battalion at only 20 years old. Rick Pyves is an avid historian and a genealogist who, like Catherine, also hails from Canada. His first book -- Night Madness: A Rear Gunner’s Story of Love, Courage, and Hope in World War II -- weaves his father’s tale into a touching love story in one man’s very personal war. Visit RichardPyves.com or follow @RichardPyves on Twitter for more on this view of the First World War War from the nation Winston Churchill called "The Great Dominion."

Helen Rappaport – The Race to Save the Romanovs Jul 16, 2018

Show notes

July 16, 2018 - In this episode, we witnesses a pivotal moment in world history and the evolution of European monarchies: The massacre of the Romanov family, ending the family's 400-year reign at Czar Nicholas II. Our guide on this journey is Helen Rappaport who brings us The Race to Save the Romanovs: The Truth Behind the Secret Plans to Rescue the Russian Imperial Family. Amidst the carnage of the Great War and Russian Revolution, myths and out-right lies about the family have clouded the popular view of the Czar's end. But here for the first time -- thanks in part to the opening of post-Soviet archives and DNA testing -- we have the true story of what happened to the Czar, Czarina and their children, closing the book at last. Helen F. Rappaport is a British historian, best-selling author, and former actress who studied Russian at Leeds University. Her previous books include The Romanov Sisters, Victoria, The Last Days of the Romanovs, and Conspirator: Lenin in Exile. Visit her at HelenRappaport.Com or at Helen Rappaport ‏on Twitter.

Gregory Crouch – The Bonanza King: John Mackay and the Battle over the Greatest Riches in the American West Jul 02, 2018

Show notes

July 2, 2018 - Our time machine strikes gold in Nevada’s Comstock Lode — a world-record vein so immensely valuable that it changed the destiny of the United States as the Civil War loomed. Our guide on this journey is Gregory Crouch who brings us: The Bonanza King: John Mackay and the Battle over the Greatest Riches in the American West. It's the history-making, rags-to-riches story of an Irish immigrant who made his fortune, won the love of his adopted country -- and then fell from the national memory in part because nobody had a bad word to say about him. Gregory Crouch's previous books include the World War II flying adventure China's Wings and the alpine memoir Enduring Patagonia. He studied history at the United States Military Academy at West Point, completed U.S. Army Airborne and Ranger schools, and led two infantry platoons. Visit him at GregCrouch.com, Facebook.com/GregoryCrouchAuthor, @GregoryCrouch on Twitter, or Gregory.Crouch on Instagram.

Amber Brock – Lady Be Good: A Novel Jun 18, 2018

Show notes

June 18, 2018 - Our time machine travels back to the days of poodle skirts, I Like Ike and I Love Lucy. Once there, we'll meet Kitty Tessler -- a saucy, scheming socialite out to settle scores with snobs. Our guide on this whirlwind tour of Manhattan, Miami, and parts of Havana brewing with an anti-Batista revolution, is Amber Brock, author of Lady Be Good: A Novel. Amber Brock teaches British literature at an all-girls' school in Atlanta, and Publishers Weekly described her debut novel, 2016's A Fine Imitation, as "An absorbing tale of art, deception, romance, and forbidden desire." She holds an MA from the University of Georgia and lives in Smyrna with her husband, also an English teacher, and their three rescue dogs. Visit her at AmberBrock.net or at AmBrockWrites on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Also referenced in this episode: This 2002 C-Span interview with Tom Clancy.

Sarah Fraser – The Prince Who Would Be King: The Life and Death of Henry Stuart Jun 05, 2018

Show notes

June 4, 2018 - Our time machine travels back to the Tudor and Stuart period of the British monarchy, to meet a prince on track to be the great King Henry the IX, had his life not been cut short. Our guide on this royal journey is Sarah Fraser, author of The Prince Who Would Be King: The Life and Death of Henry Stuart. Henry Stuart’s life -- subject of the BBC 2 documentary The Best King We Never Had -- is the last great forgotten Jacobean tale, lost in the turmoil of the Thirty Years’ War and sweeping changes taking place across Europe at the turn of the 17th Century. Sarah Fraser won the 2012 Saltire First Scottish Book of the Year for her acclaimed debut The Last Highlander, which in 2016 also became a New York Times ebook bestseller. She's a writer and regular contributor on TV and radio, with a PhD in ribald Gaelic poetry. Visit her online at SarahFraser.co.uk, where you can find her speaking schedule and regular blogs about the tumultuous Stuart era. You can also follow her on Twitter @Sarah_FraserUK.

Anne Serling – As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling May 21, 2018

Show notes

May 21, 2018 - In this episode, our time machine welcomes aboard the daughter of an American national treasure: Rod Serling. Best known for his ominous exposition in TV's groundbreaking anthology, The Twilight Zone, Serling also produced landmark screenplays such as Planet of the Apes, Seven Days in May, Playhouse 90's The Velvet Alley, and Requiem for a Heavyweight. He was a World War Two veteran, jokester, animal-lover, social commentator, prolific writer and -- unfortunately -- a heavy smoker, which contributed to his early death at only fifty years old in 1975. But perhaps the credit Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling could boast with the greatest pride, is that of loving father. This is the man we'll meet thanks to his younger daughter, Anne Serling, in As I Knew Him: My Dad, Rod Serling. Far from the dark, brooding, tortured character many have portrayed, this intimate portrait introduces us to a writer, thinker and teacher we would all be proud to know. Visit our guest online at AnneSerling.Com, @AnneSerling on Twitter, or Facebook.com/AnneSerlingBooks.

John Sedgwick – Blood Moon: An American Epic of War and Splendor in the Cherokee Nation May 07, 2018

Show notes

May 7, 2018 - Our time machine travels back to meet rival Cherokee chiefs in the decades leading up to and through the American Civil War, when the supporters of John Ross and The Ridge engaged in a blood feud that led to war, the infamous Trail of Tears, and the devastation of a once-proud nation encompassing what today is several southern states. Our guide on this journey is John Sedgwick who brings us Blood Moon: An American Epic of War and Splendor in the Cherokee Nation. John Sedgwick is the bestselling author of thirteen books, including War of Two -- his acclaimed account of the Alexander Hamilton-Aaron Burr duel -- two novels, and the family memoir In My Blood. You've seen his work in GQ, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, and The Atlantic. You can find him online at JohnSedgwick.biz.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected