Book Club with Michael Smerconish

Michael welcomes New York Times Bestselling author Michael Wolff with his book "All or Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America." In it, Wolff delivers a breathtaking insider account of the 2024 Trump campaign—undoubtedly the wildest, most unpredictable campaign in U.S. history, including multiple criminal trials, two assassination attempts, and a sudden switch of opponents. 'All or Nothing' takes readers on a journey accompanying Donald Trump on his return to power as only Michael Wolff, the foremost chronicler of the Trump era, can do it. Original air date 31 March 2025.

Laura Delano is a writer, speaker, and consultant, and the founder of Inner Compass Initiative, a nonprofit organization that helps people make more informed choices about psychiatric diagnoses, drugs, and drug withdrawal. She is a leading voice in the international movement of people who’ve left behind the medicalized, professionalized mental health industry to build something different. Laura works with individuals and families around the world who are seeking guidance and support for the withdrawal journey and life post-psychiatry. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and children.

Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret.), a leader in international business, national security, and global philanthropy, shares the books that facilitated his success. A guide to living and leading through reading, The Admiral’s Bookshelf links twenty-five essential life lessons and leadership principles to the books that best illustrate them. After speaking with him, Michael is then inspired to reveal his top 25 books as well - listen in! Original air date 26 March 2025. The book was published on 18 March 2025.

Alex Isenstadt is a Senior Political Reporter at Axios. Previously, he was National Political reporter at Politico, where he covered Donald Trump since 2015.

Michael talks to trial lawyer and communication expert Jefferson Fisher about his fascinating new book, "The Next Conversation: Argue Less, Talk More." Its ties to the themes of Michael's work with The Mingle Project are intriguing. Listen to this conversation about the definitive book that will make your next conversation the one that changes everything. No matter who you’re talking to, "The Next Conversation" gives you immediately actionable strategies and phrases that will forever change how you communicate. Fisher offers a tried-and-true framework that will show you how to transform your life and your relationships by improving your next conversation. Fisher has gained millions of followers through short, simple, practical videos teaching people how to argue less and talk more. Original air date 19 March 2025. The book was published on 18 March 2025.

"Busted: A Tale of Corruption and Betrayal in the City of Brotherly Love" is the shocking true story of the biggest police corruption scandal in Philadelphia history, a tale of drugs, power, and abuse involving a rogue narcotics squad, a confidential informant, and two veteran journalists whose reporting drove a full-scale FBI probe, rocked the City of Brotherly Love, and earned a Pulitzer Prize. Listen to Michael's conversation with journalists Wendy Ruderman and Barbara Laker. Original air date 13 March 2014. The book was published on 11 March 2014.

On October 3, 1993, about a hundred elite U.S. soldiers were dropped by helicopter into the teeming market in the heart of Mogadishu, Somalia. Their mission was to abduct two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord and return to base. It was supposed to take an hour. Instead, they found themselves pinned down through a long and terrible night fighting against thousands of heavily-armed Somalis. The following morning, eighteen Americans were dead and more than seventy had been badly wounded.Drawing on interviews from both sides, army records, audiotapes, and videos (some of the material is still classified), Bowden’s minute-by-minute narrative is one of the most exciting accounts of modern combat ever written—a riveting story that captures the heroism, courage, and brutality of battle.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, six US presidential administrations of both parties pursued policies for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia that emboldened Russia, playing into its imperialist, centuries-long mythos of regional hegemony. The result: military aggression and full-scale invasion. It was all too foreseeable.In The Folly of Realism, leading national security expert and bestselling author Alexander Vindman argues that America’s mistakes in Eastern Europe result from policymakers’ fixation on immediate, short-term problem-solving and misplaced hopes and fears. He proposes a new long-term, values-based approach that insists on the fundamentals of liberal democracy and a rules-based world order.Alexander Vindman, lieutenant colonel US Army (retired), was the director for European Affairs on the White House’s National Security Council, former Political-Military Affairs Officer for Russia, and diplomat at the American Embassies in Moscow and Kyiv. He is a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute, the author of the New York Times–bestselling memoir Here, Right Matters, and leads the Here Right Matters Foundation organization which focuses on helping Ukraine win the war against Russia.Michael previously spoke with Col. Vindman about his book "Here, Right Matters" in 2022, listen in Episode 162.

Vivek Wadhwa, co-author of "Your Happiness Was Hacked" and a respected professor at Carnegie Mellon, dives into the challenging relationship we have with technology. He discusses how digital devices can lead to addiction and emotional struggles, especially among teens. Wadhwa highlights the stress of constant connectivity and its toll on work-life balance. He advocates for establishing boundaries with technology to reclaim focus and enhance personal well-being, encouraging listeners to navigate their digital lives more mindfully.

Since his election to the U.S. Senate in 2006, Ohio’s Sherrod Brown has sat on the Senate floor at a mahogany desk with a proud history. In "Desk 88: Eight Progressive Senators Who Changed America", he tells the story of eight of the Senators who were there before him. Listen to his conversation with Michael from 26 November 2019. The book was published on 5 November 2019.