Milken, Michael;
Stockbrokers - United States - Biography;
Securities industry - Corrupt practices - United States
Jesse Kornbluth discusses his biography, “Highly Confident: The Crime and Punishment of Michael Milken.” He begins by explaining that his book is about the life of financier Michael Milken, who developed high-yield bonds and was convinced for...
Mortimer J. Adler discusses his book, “Intellect: Mind Over Matter.” Adler talks about the difference between intelligence and intellect and that intellect is immaterial and not observable. He argues that humans are the only animals with...
Siberia (Russia) - Fiction; Indians of North America - Fiction
Louis L’Amour discusses his book, “Last of the Breed.” He begins by detailing the plot of the novel, which follows the story of U.S. Air Force Major Joe Mack whose aircraft is forced down in the middle of Siberia. Mack is then placed in a...
Galicia (Poland and Ukraine) - Ethnic relations; Holocaust survivors - Galicia (Poland and Ukraine); War criminals - Germany; Jews - Persecutions - Galicia (Poland and Ukraine); Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) - Galicia (Poland and Ukraine)
Simon Wiesenthal discusses his book, “Max and Helen.” He begins by explaining the plot of the book, which chronicles the tale of Max and Helen who are Holocaust survivors who were separated during the war, and both end up in Concentration...
Women murderers - Fiction; Mothers and daughters - Fiction; Foster children - Fiction; Young women - Fiction
Janet Fitch discusses her book, “White Oleander.” She explains that the book follows the protagonist, Astrid, who is the only child of a single mother. Ingrid, Astrid’s mother is an eccentric poet who murders a man for rejecting her. The...
Soviet Union - Foreign relations - United States; United States - Foreign relations - Soviet Union; Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962; Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeevich, 1894-1971; Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963
Max Frankel discusses his book, “High Noon.” The book explores the history of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the minds of the men who provoked and later resolved the infamous confrontation. As a journalist, Frankel explains how he utilized his...
New Orleans (La.) - Fiction; Free African Americans - Fiction; African American men - Fiction; January, Benjamin (Fictitious character) - Fiction
Barbara Hambly discusses her book, “Graveyard Dust.” She begins by explaining the local history of New Orleans, which serves as the backdrop for her novel. Hambly details the racial and cultural history of the antebellum period and the world in...
New York (N.Y.) - Fiction; Poets - Fiction; Young men - Fiction; Gay men - Fiction
Allison Burnett discusses his book, “House Beautiful.” He begins by detailing the plot of the novel which tells the story of a summer in New York city in which B.K. Troop, a bipolar, alcoholic, homosexual turns his Manhattan brownstone into a...
Los Angeles (Calif.) - Social life and customs; Christmas decorations - California - Los Angeles; Christmas - California - Los Angeles; Skinner, George, d. 1978
Georja Skinner discusses her book, “The Christmas House.” She begins by explaining that the book tells the story of her father’s life. Her father, George Skinner, moved from Canada to Santa Monica with his father. When they left Canada he was...
Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994; Presidents - United States - Biography; United States - Politics and government - 1969-1974
Richard Reeves discusses his book, “President Nixon: Alone in the White House.” In researching the book, Reeves utilized a plethora of archival resources. He explains how his research on Nixon led him to write a biography dealing with the...
Sidney Sheldon discusses his book, "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" Sheldon says he learned to catch the attention of readers immediately from television. He also states that he only writes about places he has visited or foods he has eaten. Sheldon...
Mark Kurlansky discusses his book, “Boogaloo on 2nd Avenue.” He begins by discussing the plot of the book, which follows a family living on the lower East Side of New York City in the 1980s. He explains that one of the main characters of the...
Window dressers - Great Britain - Biography; Doonan, Simon, 1952-
Simon Doonan discusses his book, “Nasty.” He begins by discussing the plot of the book, which uses humor to recount his life in 1950s and 1960s Reading, England. Doonan explains his early obsession with glamor and beautiful people, which led...
England - Fiction; Actors - Fiction; Country homes - Fiction; Social classes - Fiction; Married people - Fiction; Television programs - Fiction; Aristocracy (Social class) – Fiction; Gosford Park (Motion picture)
Julian Fellowes discusses his book, “Snobs.” He begins by explaining the plot, which follows Edith Lavery, the only child of an upper-middle class family with social aspirations, living in England during the 1990s. Luckily she is able to obtain...
Soviet Union; Publishers and publishing; Emigration and immigration; Prostitution
Michael Viner discusses his book, “Shattered Dreams, Broken Promises.” He begins by explaining that the book reveals the stories of several women in the Soviet Union who have gone to desperate lengths to immigrate to the United States of...
David Wallechinsky discusses his book, “The Knowledge Book.” He begins by discussing his own family and how neither of his parents went to college and instead were both autodidacts. He shares his memories growing up the child of parents who...
AIDS (Disease) - Social aspects - Tennessee - Johnson City; Physicians - Tennessee - Johnson City - Biography
Abraham Verghese discusses his book, "My Own Country: A Doctor's Story of a Town and its People in the Age of AIDS." The non-fiction story is about his experiences as a doctor in Johnson City, Tennessee and dealing with his patients who...
Dating (Social customs) - Fiction; Love - Fiction; Novels in verse
Sonya Sones discusses her book, "What My Mother Doesn't Know." The story is about a Jewish teenage girl, Sophie, who is 14.5 years old. Sophie has two friends named Rachel and Grace and have been friends with them since the third grade. Sophie...
Means, Russell, 1939-; American Indian Movement; Oglala Indians - Biography; Indians of North America - Government relations - 1934-
Russell Means discusses his book, "Where White Men Fear to Tread: The Autobiography of Russell Means." The book is not only about his life, but the experience of the American Indian. His parents moved to San Francisco so he wouldn't have to...
Koch, Doro Bush, 1959-; Bush, George, 1924- - Family; Presidents - United States - Biography; Children of presidents - United States - Biography; Daughters - United States - Biography
Doro Bush Koch discusses her book, "My Father, My President: A Personal Account of the Life of George H.W. Bush." The book is a memoir of the life and presidency of her father, George H.W. Bush. She interviewed 135 people for the book. The...