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Jacqueline Wadsworth – Letters from the Trenches Nov 09, 2015

Show notes

November 9, 2015 - In honor of Veterans Day and Remembrance Day on November 11th, Bristol writer Jacqueline Wadsworth takes us back to "the war to end all wars" in Letters from the Trenches: The First World War by Those Who Were There. We hear from soldiers on the Western Front, Mesopotamia, Gallipoli, Italy, Northern Russia -- and, of course, from the women and children suffering through the Great War back home. In addition to the book, you can visit SoldierLetters.Blogspot.com for tons of additional content, and follow Jacqueline Wadsworth on Twitter @SoldiersLetters. Discover Your History magazine calls Letters from the Trenches, "A warm evocation of how ordinary people's lives were affected by a devastating conflict," and they highly recommend it. But Jacqueline's book is more than a pile of letters, more than another poetic retelling of the romance and tragedy of the war. It's a book where real people speak for themselves, as war upends their daily lives.

Jennifer Kincheloe – The Secret Life of Anna Blanc Nov 02, 2015

Show notes

November 2, 2015 - For our first historical fiction author, we're pleased to introduce Jennifer Kincheloe's debut novel: The Secret Life of Anna Blanc. Join us in 1907 Los Angeles, where Anna Blanc chafes under the thumb of her controlling father and yearns for a life of crime -- solving them that is. Inspired by the wild Santa Anna winds, Anna joins a suffragette protest, lies to everyone in her life, and takes a job as an LAPD police matron -- under a not particularly convincing fake name. "If the police find out, she'll get fired; if her father finds out, he'll disown her; and if her fiancé finds out, he'll cancel the wedding and stop pouring money into her father's collapsing bank." And so the stakes are set, in the secret life of our spunky heroine: Anna Blanc. You can follow Jennifer Kincheloe @JenKincheloe on Twitter, or like the novel's Facebook page. And if you're hungering for more of LA at the dawn of the 20th Century, check out Jennifer Kincheloe's Pinterest page. It features over 35,000 images from her extensive research on the period. Additional books discussed on this episode:

Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz – Dr. Mütter’s Marvels Oct 29, 2015

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October 29, 2015 - In this special, Halloween episode, we're traveling back to the days before the American Civil War, when doctors would take their scalpels to fully awake patients -- the pre-microbial era when the causes of common diseases remained a mystery, and when oil lamps and flammable clothing combined to engulf a staggering number of people in flames. This, was the age of monsters. Yes, monsters. Not costumed Groovie Goolies, but human beings so scarred and broken, that they often longed for death. And so they were called... monsters. Enter the brilliant surgeon who gave these monsters hope, and made it his life's work to piece their lives back together. His name, was Dr. Thomas Dent Mütter. Poet and author Cristin O'Keefe Aptowitcz tells the story of his amazing medical breakthroughs in Dr. Mütter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine. Cristin is an award-winning writer and the author of seven books. You can visit her website, Aptowicz.com and follow her on Twitter @COAptowicz. We're also giving away two tickets to the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia on our Facebook page, courtesy of the author. To enter, just listen to the show, visit the page and leave a comment. Because the only thing better than a trip into the past, is a free trip into the past for you and a friend. Additional books discussed on this episode:

Jordan Harbour’s Twilight Histories Oct 26, 2015

Show notes

October 26, 2015 - What if John Wilkes Booth's gun had misfired? And what if we could blast off to a Mars colony founded by the Carthaginians, or head 250,000 years into the past when a race of giants dominate Africa? Writer and archaeologist Jordan Harbour, explores stories like these at the Twilight Histories podcast. And like a David Lynch film, things keep getting weirder. The Twilight Histories is a podcast, Jordan says, that should be listened to in the dark. So turn out the lights, lower the brightness on your smart phone, and enjoy our upcoming interview with Jordan Harbor... if you dare.

David O. Stewart – Madison’s Gift Oct 19, 2015

Show notes

October 19, 2015 - On this episode, you'll meet five legends -- George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, James Monroe, and Dolley Madison -- as viewed through their relationships with James Madison. Often overlooked in death as he was in life (and having the White House burned out from under him in the War of 1812 didn't help), David O. Stewart reveals a founding father and president uniquely adept at what we today call "networking." The book is Madison's Gift: Five Partnerships that Built America. Just as Gen. Washington was indispensable in winning the war, so was Madison indispensable in winning the peace and setting up the first self-governing republic since Rome. David O. Stewart is also president of the Washington Independent Review of Books. His other books include: The Wilson Deception (A New Fraser and Cook Mystery). The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution. American Emperor: Aaron Burr's Challenge to Jefferson's America.

Simon Read – Winston Churchill Reporting Oct 12, 2015

Show notes

October 12, 2015 - On this episode, we'll visit a key period in Winston Churchill's life, half a century before World War Two. In the late 1800s, Churchill chased adventure in the Sudan, South Africa, India and Cuba, filing dispatches that helped build his resume, and fill his empty wallet. Simon Read describes a Winston Churchill who's part Indiana Jones, part Ernie Pyle, and part Audie Murphy. It's hard to overstate just how important these years were to creating the Churchill who grew into the Greatest Briton. His command of the English language, his views of war, his respect for enemies and ideas about creating a lasting peace through victory, all started here. You can follow Simon @SimonReadBooks on Twitter, or visit WinstonChurchillReporting.com for more on this exciting adventure. Additional books discussed in this episode:

Jonathan Sandys – God and Churchill Oct 06, 2015

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October 6, 2015 - How did Winston Churchill overcome so many personal, financial and professional setbacks to lead the United Kingdom to victory during its darkest hour, when the Empire nation stood alone against Hitler? The answer may surprise you, and that's the focus of a new book. It's God & Churchill: How the Great Leader's Sense of Divine Destiny Changed His Troubled World and Offers Hope for Ours. More than a spiritual biography, God & Churchill recounts a deeply personal quest for Jonathan Sandys, Winston Churchill's great-grandson. Along with co-author and former White House staffer Wallace Henley, Jonathan discovers how again and again, Churchill turned his eyes up to find strength here on earth. Previous books have ignored the role of faith in the Greatest Briton's life, or dismissed his invocations on behalf of "Christian civilization" as mere rhetoric. Now, for the first time, God & Churchill debunks that myth and inspires us with a Sir Winston who remains a role model today, as we seek to unite the world in the face of the heirs to Hitler's nihilistic creed. UPDATE: It's with a heavy heart I report that Jonathan Sandys -- a man I was proud to call friend -- passed away a few days after Christmas 2018. He is survived by his wife, Sara, as well as their children Jesse and Arizona Jane. Not to mention his family in the U.K. and so many who met him once, twice, or a thousand times. When the news hit me, I thought of the line from Watership Down: "My heart has joined the thousand, for my friend stopped running today," for I will miss running with him, on to the next adventure. Additional books discussed in this episode:

James Shapiro – The Year of Lear Oct 05, 2015

Show notes

October 5, 2015 - On this episode, we visit the theaters, throne rooms and taverns of London 400 years ago, as seen through the eyes of William Shakespeare. History Author Show correspondent Stephen Bedford met our guide to Jacobian London in the shadow of the immortal bard's statue in Central Park. He is renowned Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro, professor of English of Columbia University. His book is The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606. That was a particularly chaotic year in England with King James’ ascension and the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot. But this atmosphere of crisis inspired Shakespeare, and he went on to produce three of his greatest tragedies that year: King Lear, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra. Professor Shapiro is historical adviser at New York City’s Public Theater, Governor of the Folger Shakespeare Library, and frequent BBC commentator. He is also the author of Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? You can find him at JamesShapiro.net.

Charles Leerhsen – Ty Cobb Sep 28, 2015

Show notes

September 28, 2015 - Even casual baseball fans can name the game's greatest heroes, and its most infamous villain: Ty Cobb. Yes, it's something that even Yankees and Red Sox fans can agree on: "The Georgia Peach" wasn't a very nice fellow. But what if everyone is wrong? What if, like Ulysses S. Grant, Ty Cobb's enemies were just more prolific writers than his friends? What if by accepting the view of Ty Cobb as a belligerent racist and dirty player, we're smearing baseball's all-time great, and abetting a century of shoddy reporting? If so, then someone should set the historical record straight. Well, that's exactly what Charles Leerhsen set out to do in his New York Times best-seller, Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty. In it, Mr. Leerhsen questioned all the accepted truths about Cobb and found the facts striking out. And Mr. Leerhsen is not just a sports fan, but a journalist trained in facts. You've seen his work everywhere from Sports Illustrated and Esquire to The New York Times Magazine and People. He has also been an editor at SI, Us Weekly, and Newsweek. You can find him @CharlesLeerhsen on Twitter and at Leerhsen.com. We hope you'll pour yourself a cold one, tear open a box of Cracker Jacks, and play ball with Charles Leerhsen and Ty Cobb ... A Terrible Beauty. Meet Buster - Mascott of New Jersey's Lakewood BlueClaws

Gerald Posner – God’s Bankers Sep 24, 2015

Show notes

September 24, 2015 - This is a special, Pope-in-America edition of the History Author Show. Pope Francis began his visit to the United States on September 22, 2015 with stops in Washington, D.C., New York City and Philadelphia. Top on his agenda were calls for Americans to spend more on the poor. But what about the church's finances? How did a humble ministry started by St. Paul two thousand years ago, grow into the largest and wealthiest on earth? Attorney, best-selling author, and award-winning investigative journalist Gerald Posner explores that question in his book: God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican. It's a book not about faith, but about finances. And it begs the question: Can the man called the people's pope, Francis, overcome the resistance to change in the Vatican’s inner court, and rein in its excesses? Can the new pontiff, in short, succeed where all his predecessors failed? The Providence Journal called God's Bankers "As exciting as a mystery thriller." So I thought, who better to interview Gerald Posner than thriller author Tom Grace. Among Tom's best-selling novels in the Nolan Kilkenny series is, The Secret Cardinal. It's an adventure that races from the grandeur of the Vatican across the vastness of Asia, ultimately involving China, the Mafia, and the conclave of cardinals that will elect the next pope. Tom has vast knowledge of the Catholic Church, so he and Gerald had a lot to talk about in this bonus episode. Additional books discussed in this episode:

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