The Book Case

Has the United States ever had a female president? An easy question to answer. Has it ever had an ‘acting’ female President? Harder to answer. Check out Rebecca Boggs Roberts' very readable biography of Edith Wilson, Woodrow Wilson’s second wife, and make up your own mind. The book is Untold Power: The Fascinating Rise and Complex Legacy of First Lady Edith Wilson. Following her husband’s stroke in 1919, Edith Wilson decided, for reasons she thought critical to her husband’s well-being, to hide the extent of his incapacities from the public, from the press, from Congress, from his cabinet, even from Wilson himself. She assumed some of the powers of the office herself. Could a First Lady get away with such audacity today in the age of social media and intense news media scrutiny? Not a chance. Was her self-justification reasonable? All those questions are what makes Edith Wilson such a complex and controversial character and a worthy subject for Rebecca Boggs Roberts.Books mentioned in this podcast: Untold Power: The Fascinating Rise of and Complex Legacy of First Lady Edith Wilson by Rebecca Boggs Roberts The Suffragist's Parade: The 1913 Parade and the Fight for the Vote by Rebecca Boggs Roberts My Memoir by Edith Bolling Wilson Wilson by A. Scott Berg Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey by Candice Millard River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile by Candice Millard Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill by Candice Millard Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, we turn to non-fiction and events in a decade of U.S. history that is unknown to most Americans. The 1920’s were known for remarkable social change. In the wake of World War I, there was cultural exuberance, the first real skyscrapers, jazz age, flappers, the Charleston, and also prohibition. There was also a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan, and surprising to many, it came in the north. As award-winning journalist Timothy Egan writes in his remarkable new book to be released April 4th A Fever in the Heartland, the Klan held a lot of power in the state of Indiana. As a vicious, sadistic, charlatan, Eagan says the KKK leader David C. Stephenson encouraged millions in Indiana alone to join the Klan. Egan says one in three white men in the state, not to mention women and children, took the oath. And this in a state that had lost 25,000 Union soldiers in the Civil War just 50 years previous. Egan writes that Stephenson thought himself above the law - “I am the law” he declared. But his brutal treatment of one woman, largely unknown to history, Madge Oberholtzer, brought him down and began the disintegration of the Klan, not only in Indiana, but in the rest of the country. It’s a sobering story well told by Egan. One, we felt, worthy of attention by all of us.Books mentioned in the podcast: A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan The Immortal Irishman by Timothy Egan The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America by Timothy Egan The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan A Pilgrimage to Eternity: From Canterbury to Rome in Search of a Faith by Timothy Egan Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis by Timothy Egan Lasso the Wind: Away to the New West by Timothy Egan Breaking Blue by Timothy Egan The Good Rain by Timothy Egan The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Blue Nights by Joan Didion The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Harlan Coben is as successful a mystery writer as we have in the country today. He is probably known best for his page-turner plots. In his more than 35 books published to date he keeps you guessing throughout. I Will Find You is his latest - just out. And it’s a bit of a departure for Coben as he will tell you - a little more than half way through the book you find out who the bad guys are. That’s rare for a Coben thriller, but none the less gripping and it will still keep you guessing. Also, as you will find in this podcast, Harlen Coben is not only a good writer, but a good talker to boot.Our book store this week is “[Words]” in Maplewood, New Jersey. By no means is this a typical bookstore - it is one with a highly commendable mission. It has pursued that mission for 15 years and now is participating in a fascinating experiment to further the mission. As a result, it is Harlen Coben’s favorite bookstore and we talk to them this week.I Will Find You by Harlen CobenBooks (and articles) mentioned in the podcast: Tell No One by Harlan Coben Win by Harlan Coben Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben The Key To My Father by Harlan Coben https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/15/opinion/a-work-of-fiction-the-key-to-my-father.html Marathon Man by William Goldman The New York Times Opinion | Opinion | A WORK OF FICTION; The Key To My Father (Published 2003) __ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Quite a few of you have written us that you would be interested in hearing from a book editor, so we went out and find one of the best. Beverly Horowitz, Senior Vice President of Delacorte Press which is a division of Random House, joins us for a fascinating talk about what she does and how she does it. She has been editing for decades and recently has taken to adapting popular and important non fiction books for YA readers, a process that also fascinated us. After talking to Beverly, one of her authors joins us to give an author’s perspective on the process: Heather McGhee, the writer of The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together. The Sum of Us is not necessarily a “simple” book for YA audiences, it presents complex arguments about how institutional racism hurts our policy making and our economy. How did the two of them work with this book and adapt it to YA audiences? What does Beverly do with an author who won’t take her advice? How does a book go from the author’s printer to the book store shelves? We answer all of that on this week’s episode of The Book Case. Don’t miss it!Books mentioned in this podcast:The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee Look Homeword, Angel by Thomas Wolfe Born a Crime by Trevor Noah (Born a Crime by Trevor Noah YA edition) My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor The Beloved World of Sonia Sotomayor by Sonia Sotomayor Beloved by Toni Morrison Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion I Will Find You by Harlan Coben Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's Oscar Week! A week we’ll always love… even if we haven’t seen the all the movies. Our guest this week is Michael Schulman, author of Oscar Wars, a definitive bio of the awards ceremony and the organization that created it. From the catfights of Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland to the slap heard round the world, this book has it all. Halle Berry, Frank Capra, Steven Spielberg, John Wayne, Dennis Hopper, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls and Citizen Kanes, they are all here and you don’t want to miss any of them. We loved every moment of this conversation…and we didn’t want you to miss a thing. So, no bookstore again this week, but next week we are back with a bookstore, promise.Books mentioned in the podcast: Play It as It Lays by Joan Didion “Jumpers” by Tad Friend for The New Yorker https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/10/13/jumpers Hollywood: The Oral History by Sam Wasson Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman by Sam Wasson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, The Book Case welcomes journalist Alex Prud’homme! His new book Dinner with the President explores the long history of food and American diplomacy. Did you know that the purchase of Pearl Harbor came about because of the first official state dinner ever? Did you know that many believe our involvement in WWII was predicated on a king and hot dog? These are all great stories and this book is packed with them. Find out why Julia Child played and still plays a central role in White House culinary philosophy and what Nixon ate almost every day for lunch….it’s all fascinating! There were so many great stories we didn’t want you to miss any of them, so we forgo a bookstore this week.Dinner with the President by Alex Prud'hommeBooks mentioned in the podcast: The French Chef in America by Alex Prud'homme My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme The Cell Game by Alex Prud'homme The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Fresh Water in the Twenty-First Century by Alex Prud'homme Hydrofracking: What Everyone Needs to Know by Alex Prud'homme France is a Feast: The Photographic Journey of Paul and Julia Child by Alex Prud'homme and Katie Pratt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Five years ago Rebecca Makkai was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize and the National Book award. Now, in what is a treat for readers, Rebecca Makkai has just released a brand new novel, “I Have Some Questions for You”. It is a marvelously plotted mystery/novel about a podcaster, Bodie Kane, who returns to her prep school to teach a mini-course. One of her students wants to reinvestigate, with a podcast, a murder that occurred when Bodie was a student and for which a school staffer may have been wrongly convicted. The novel investigates the vagaries of memory, the realities of violence against women, and the near-impossibility of reversing a years-old conviction. The book has received considerable pre-publication praise, deservedly so.And our bookstore this week has a wonderful story. The brand new Beacon Hill Books and Cafe in downtown Boston, at times, has customers lined up to get in. Find out why.Books mentioned in this week's podcast: I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai The Hundred-Year House by Rebecca Makkai The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai Music for Wartime: Stories by Rebecca Makkai The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey Paige of Beacon Hill by Sarah S. Brannen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amity Gaige is our featured author this week - her latest book is Sea Wife. But when we say latest - it’s been out for almost three years. With apologies, we just discovered it. Shame on us. It’s a book about a couple struggling with marital problems who decide (well the husband decides) to buy a sailboat and head for open waters. His wife isn’t crazy about the idea of sailing around the world so they settle on the Caribbean. That proves to be difficult enough. Amity makes marvelous use of foreshadowing. The wife Juliet is writing her remembrances of the sail. Her husband Michael is heard through his log book of the sail. Why? Well that’s part of the mystery incorporated in a good sea yarn. Our bookstore this week is a good one. Book Ends in Winchester, MA under new ownership -- Lauren Tiedemann and Jillian Hartline.Books mentioned in this podcast: Sea Wife by Amity Gaige Shroeder by Amity Gaige O My Darling by Amity Gaige The Folded World by Amity Gaige The Candy House by Jennifer Egan What You are Going Through by Sigrid Nunez The Silent Woman by Janet Malcom Trust Exercise by Susan Choi Rabbit, Run by John Updike  The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton The Little French Bridal Shop by Jennifer Dupee The Paris Bookseller by Keri Maher The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Julie Otsuka doesn't just write, she crafts. Trained as a painter, Otsuka took up writing as her second career, and man oh man are we lucky she did. Her latest, The Swimmers, is just coming out in paperback and it is one of the most lyrical rich character portraits we have read. Julie joins us to talk about her unique style, and to tell us how she has kept each one of her novels to less than 200 pages. Trust us, each page is packed with beauty. Our bookstore this week is Book Ends in Winchester Massachusetts with its two brand new owners.Books mentioned in this podcast: The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka When the Emporer was Divine by Julie Otsuka The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka Second Place by Rachel Cusk A Life's Work by Rachel Cusk The Outline Trilogy by Rachel Cusk The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway Camino Island by John Grisham A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles Art of Cooking by Jacques Pepin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stuart Gibbs is a man who loves his audience and his audience loves him. He has written six series of books for kids and all them offer a glimpse into the glee that Stuart Gibbs takes in the stories he tells. Whether it’s blowing up whales, going to a secretly run CIA training school for kids or a knight who never meant to become one, Stuart Gibbs takes real pleasure in entertaining his readers. One of his newest passions is turning his best selling work into graphic novels. His first series being turned into a paneled masterpiece is the Spy School series. His collaboration with illustrating Anjan Sarkar took a surprising turn. Our bookstore this week is Read Herring (soon to be New South Books) in Montgomery Alabama.Books mentioned in the podcast: Moon Base Alpha Series by Stuart Gibbs Once Upon a Tim Series by Stuart Gibbs Spy School Series by Stuart Gibbs Spy School: the Graphic Novel by Stuart Gibbs Spy Camp: the Graphic Novel by Stuart Gibbs The FunJungle Collection by Stuart Gibbs Whale Done by Stuart Gibbs The Last Musketeer by Stuart Gibbs Hope Wins: A Collection of Inspiring Stories for Young Readers edited by Rose Brock The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Jurassic Park by Michael Chrichton The Deep by Nick Cutter Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship by Irene Latham and Charles Waters Leaving Gee's Bend by Irene Latham Children of Dust by Marlin Barton Tell the World You're a Wildflower by Jennifer Horne Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices