Monday, April 7, 2014: Bob talks with actress and writer Annabelle Gurwitch about her new book of essays titled I See You Made an Effort: Compliments, Indignities, and Survival Stories from the Edge of 50. Every day, more than 10,000 Americans cross that threshold – and like Gurwitch – start receiving targeted mail from the AARP. This coming-of-middle-age story covers that and other topics like aging out of your wardrobe, options for retirement and navigating the beauty counter at the department store. Then, Bob talks to Afro-British novelist Helen Oyeyemi about her latest book Boy, Snow, Bird.
Tuesday, April 8, 2014: In 2011, author and SiriusXM Symphony Hall host Martin Goldsmith traveled through Europe to piece together the tragic tale of his grandfather and uncle, Alex and Helmut Goldschmidt. Passengers on the doomed MS St. Louis, the father and son made it back to France only to be shipped to Auschwitz. Goldsmith weaves their path into his contemporary journey in his new book Alex’s Wake: A Voyage of Betrayal and a Journey of Remembrance.
Wednesday, April 9, 2014: Washington Post editor Steven Levingston’s new book, Little Demon in the City of Light: A True Story of Murder and Mesmerism in Belle Epoque Paris, tells the largely forgotten story of young Gabrielle Bompard. Accused of murdering a wealthy Frenchman, Bompard claimed that she was under hypnosis. Her trial was one of the most hotly debated cases in Paris at the turn of the 20thcentury. Then, writer Meg Wolitzer’s novel, The Interestings, follows the lives and relationships of six teenagers who met at a summer camp for the arts in 1974 and is now available in paperback. Wolitzer is the author of The New York Times bestseller The Ten-Year Nap, as well as a number of other novels.
Thursday, April 10, 2014: Ben Goldacre began his career as a doctor but left the profession to devote himself to exposing the corruption in the healthcare system. When his book Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients was published in England, it prompted government investigations into the pharmaceutical companies’ withholding of clinical trial data. A new edition of the book was published here and focuses on the US medical industry. Bad Pharma has just been released in paperback. Then, Tigers are beautiful, powerful and revered by many animal lovers around the world, but they’re also endangered by illegal poaching and loss of habitat. Steve Winter has been taking photographs for National Geographic since 1991, and his latest book is entitled Tigers Forever: Saving The World’s Most Endangered Big Cats. His stunning images are accompanied by the writing of Sharon Guynup, who illuminates the people and organizations fighting to defend this noble creature.
Friday, April 11, 2014: Doyle McManus, Washington columnist for the Los Angeles Times, joins Bob to discuss the latest political news. Then, most of Barbara Ehrenreich’s new book is based on a notebook she began when she was 14-years-old. Ehrenreich, best-known for her social justice polemics (Nickeled and Dimed, Bait and Switch), experienced a series of what she would later call “mystical” episodes in her childhood that reverberated throughout her life. Raised by staunch atheists and rationalists (and identifying as both today), Ehrenreich goes back to consider the Big Questions that we all struggle with. Her memoir is titled Living with a Wild God: A Nonbeliever’s Search for the Truth about Everything. Finally, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi ruled Libya for 42 years until his assassination in 2011. Showtime’s documentary, Mad Dog: Inside the Secret World of Muammar Gaddafi, airs on Friday, April 11th and Bob talks with producer Roy Ackerman about Gaddafi’s regime.