Writer's Voice with Francesca Rheannon

James W. Douglass talks his new book Gandhi and the Unspeakable: His Final Experiment with Truth. Then WV airs an excerpt from our 2009 interview with Douglass about JFK and The Unspeakable: Why He Died And Why It Matters.

Scientist and author Jared Diamond talks about his latest book, The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? And herbalist Holly Bellabuono discusses her book, The Authentic Herbal Healer: The Complete Guide to Herbal Formulary & Plant-Inspired Medicine for Every Body System.

Martin Duberman talks about his biography, HOWARD ZINN: A Life On The Left. We’ll also hear an excerpt from a 2005 interview with Zinn, five years before his death.

Rilla Askew talks about her new novel, KIND OF KIN. It’s about anti-immigrant hatred, its reign of terror and how it’s tearing families apart. And Rebecca Coleman once again plumbs the outer limits of what ordinary people are capable of doing in her new novel, HEAVEN SHOULD FALL.

Larry Fader talks about his book 120’0”; it’s a previously unpublished two-hour conversation with composer John Cage. And artist and writer Matthew Rose talks about the unbound book of art postcards he curated, A BOOK ABOUT DEATH, in a re-broadcast of a WV 2009 interview.

WV looks back at 2012 and celebrates some of our favorite episodes with clips from our interviews with Junot Diaz, Ursula K. LeGuin, Louise Erdrich, Margot Livesy, John Michael Greer, Eyal Press, and Walter Mosely.

In the second episode in The River Runs Through Us, WV examines the life of Sojourner Truth and what she means to us. We talk with Jacqueline Sheehan about her novel about Sojourner Truth, THE COMET'S TALE; with historian Nell Irvin Painter, author of SOJOURNER TRUTH, A Life, A Symbol; and with Rachel Kuhn and Priscilla Kane Hellweg of the Enchanted Circle Theater about their musical play, SOJOURNER'S TRUTH: I Will Shake Every Place I Go To.

Nutritionist Deborah Kesten shares the results of her research into losing weight and keeping it off. Her book is MAKE WEIGHT LOSS LAST. Then, Francesca’s story about a master chef’s philosophy about food. And Drew reviews ALL THE ART THAT’S FIT TO PRINT (And Some That Wasn't): Inside The New York Times Op-Ed Page and talks with the author, Jerelle Kraus.

Filmmaker Susan Rockefeller discusses her film, MISSION OF MERMAIDS: A Love Letter To The Ocean. Also, children’s book author, Jason Chin, talks about his acclaimed new book, ISLAND: A Story of the Galapagos. But first, WV encores our 2011 interview with Paolo Bacigalupe about SHIPBREAKER, his dystopian sci fi novel that takes place in a world altered by climate change.

Barbara Kingsolver talks about her new novel, FLIGHT BEHAVIOR. It’s about what happens when a rural community in Tennessee is confronted with a bizarre phenomenon -- caused by global warming. And futurist James Howard Kunstler says we’d better dispense with our penchant for magical thinking. His book is NO MORE MAGIC: Wishful Thinking, Technology, and the Fate of the Nation.

Simon Kuper talks about AJAX, THE DUTCH, THE WAR. It’s about resistance and collaboration through the lens of soccer in the Netherlands. And Hurricane Sandy moves us to air a portion of our 2011 interview with Mark Hertsgaard about his book, HOT: Living Through the Next 50 Years on Earth. It’s about adapting to climate change.

Science fiction master Ursula K. Le Guin talks about her two-volume short story retrospective, just out from Small Beer Press: THE UNREAL AND THE REAL. And murder mystery writer Archer Mayor talks about writing police procedurals and his latest in the Joe Gunther series, PARADISE CITY.

Louise Erdrich talks about her powerful new novel, THE ROUND HOUSE & economist Richard Wolff discusses his new book, OCCUPY THE ECONOMY. It’s about the crisis of capitalism and what to do about it.

Eric Laursen talks about the war on social security. His book is THE PEOPLE’S PENSION. And Greg Palast counts up nine ways Republicans are suppressing the vote -- and why it matters. His book is BILLIONAIRES AND BALLOT BANDITS.

Much has been made of the declining American middle class in this election cycle. Each presidential candidate is vowing to bring back the middle class. But how did we get to the point in which the middle class needs rescuing? Who’s to blame for the collapse of the middle class and what can be done about? Investigative reporters Donald Bartlett and James Steele have written a disturbing and heartbreaking answer to these questions. Their new book, THE BETRAYAL OF THE AMERICAN DREAM [Public Affairs, 2012], chronicles how, “for more than thirty years, government and big business have conspired to roll back the American Dream.” Using clear and indisputable data, Bartlett and Steele craft a narrative of how the economic elite have co-opted the legislative process, manipulated the tax code and used outsourcing and globalization to destroy the American dream for millions of Americans. James B. Steele and Donald L. Barlett are one of the most widely acclaimed investigative reporting teams in American journalism. They are the only reporting team ever to have received two Pulitzer Prizes for newspaper reporting and two National Magazine Awards for magazine work. This is their eighth book together. Drew Adamek spoke to James Steele about the decline of the American middle class, who is responsible for it and what, if any, choice voters have in the next election.