HOUR ONE:
Washington Post editor Steven Levingston’s new paperback, 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 20th century.
Major League Baseball’s opening day is just two weeks away. And right now, in Florida and Arizona, hundreds of players are fighting to make a big league roster. But most of them will land somewhere else. Bob talks with sports writer John Feinstein about his book Where Nobody Knows Your Name: Life in the Minor Leagues of Baseball. It’s just out in paperback.
HOUR TWO:
Spring is officially here and whether you hate them or love them, pigeons are everywhere. Bob talks to Andrew Blechman about his book Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World’s Most Revered and Reviled Bird.
Conservationist and founder of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Dave Goulson found his passion for bees as a young boy in rural England. His book, A Sting in the Tale: My Adventures with Bumblebees, looks at why bees worldwide are declining and what we can do about it.
That takes care of the birds and the bees – now for some bonus bugs. Bob talks with Peter Laufer about his book The Dangerous World of Butterflies: The Startling Subculture of Criminals, Collectors, and Conservationists. It touches on the relationships between butterflies and organized crime, ecological devastation, species depletion, the integrity of natural history museums and the art world.