Podcast 200 – Max Boot

This historian, best-selling author and foreign-policy analyst talks about his latest book, Reagan: His Life and Legend. Published by Liveright in September 2024, this biography was recognized as one of the Ten Best Books of this year by The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post and the Economist. Boot’s previous biography, The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam, also was a New York TimesRead More »

Podcast #199 – Kai Bird

This journalist’s co-authored and Pulitzer Prize winning biography, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, served as the inspiration for the Oscar winning film, Oppenheimer. Bird has written several critically acclaimed biographies, including The Color of Truth: McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy, Brothers in ArmsThe Chairman: John J. McCloy and the Making of the American EstablishmentThe Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames;… Read More »

Podcast #197 – David Greenberg

This veteran author and Rutgers University journalism professor speaks with BIO member Kevin McGruder about his latest book, John Lewis: A Life. It was published by Simon and Schuster in October 2024 and supported by grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Cullman Center of the New York Public Library, and the Leon Levy Center for Biography. Greenberg’s previous books include Nixon’s Shadow: The History of an Image and Republic Read More »

Podcast #196 – Carl Rollyson

Veteran biographer and emeritus Baruch College journalism professor Carl Rollyson talks about his latest book, Sylvia Plath Day by Day, Volume 2, published by the University Press of Mississippi in August 2024. Rollyson’s impressive literary output—of more than 40 books—includes examinations of William Faulkner, Amy Lowell, Walter Brennan, Lillian Hellman, Norman Mailer and Marilyn MonroeHe also coauthored Susan Sontag: The Making of an Icon, Revised and Updated. Rollyson’s reviews of biographies have appeared… Read More »

Podcast #195 – Heath Hardage Lee

Award-winning historian, curator and biographer, Heath Hardage Lee, talks about her  latest book, The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon: The Life and Times of Washington’s Most Private First Lady.  It was published by St. Martin’s Press in August 2024. Lee’s work has 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 TimeThe HillThe Atlantic and White Read More »

Podcast #194 – Ken Burns

Celebrated documentary filmmaker and Television Hall of Fame inductee Ken Burns, talks about his latest film, Leonardo da Vinci. It will air nationwide on PBS network stations on November 18 and 19, 2024. Burns has directed and produced such acclaimed historical documentaries as, The Civil War; Baseball; Jazz; The War; The National Parks:  America’s Best Idea; Prohibition, The Vietnam WarCountry Music; The U.S. and the Holocaust and The American Buffalo. Burns’ biographical documentaries… Read More »

Podcast #190 – Fergus M. Bordewich

This week we interview veteran independent writer, historian, and journalist, Fergus M. Bordewich. His latest book, Klan War: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction, was published in October 2023 by Knopf. Bordewich has written eight previous nonfiction books, including the award-winning The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government, and America’s Great Debate: Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and the Compromise that Read More »

Podcast #172 – Jack Kelly

This week we interview Jack Kelly, an award-winning author and historian. Kelly’s latest book,  God Save Benedict Arnold: The True Story of America’s Most Hated Man, was published in December 2023 by St. Martin’s Press. Kelly’s previous fiction and nonfiction books were well received, including his Band of Giants: The Amateur Soldiers Who Won America’s Independence, which received the DAR History Medal. Kelly is a New York Foundation for the Arts nonfiction literature… Read More »