About Books, January 1, 2010

Keith Jeffrey, a professor of Bristish History at Queen's University in Belfast, was commissioned by the Secret Intelligence Service to write its history. The result is The Secret History of MI6, 1909-1949. The SIS's purpose was to increase public understanding without endangering national security. Therefore, although he had complete access to the archives, Jeffrey had to agree to a few restrictions (not revealing agent's names, for example). The book is a treasure to anyone interested in how clandestine services work and their effect on history.

Listen to the interview at http://www.wvik.org/listings-aboutbooks.htm

About Books, December 18, 2010

Tim Slover believes in Christmas and his book, "The Christmas Chronicles: The Legend of Santa Claus," may just have you believing too. It's a delightful story that begins when Klaus is a young man in the Black Forest in 1343. You'll learn about his first delivery of presents to children. You'll learn about his laugh, his red suit, the reindeer and how he can deliver around the world in one night. It's a fascinating story, one you may want to read as a family each year.

Listen to the interview at http://www.wvik.org/listings-aboutbooks.htm

About Books, December 11, 2010

Ammon Shea explores the history of the telephone and the telephone book in The Phone Book: The Curious History of the Book That Everyone Uses But No One Reads. In it you'll learn about the first telephone company in New Haven that had their switchboard in someone's kitchen as well the development of telephone etiquette, early numberless phone books, telephone operators and the yellow pages.

Listen to the interview at http://www.wvik.org/listings-aboutbooks.htm

About Books, December 4, 2010

Geoffrey O'Brien, editor in chief of the Library of America, wrote "The Fall of the House of Walworth: a Tale of Madness and Murder in Gilded Age America" after visiting an exhibit about the Walworth family in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The book begins with the murder of the novelist Mansfield Walworth by his son Frank. This crime leads the author in an exploration of generations of the Walworth family and their fall from prominence.

Listen to the interview at http://www.wvik.org/listings-aboutbooks.htm

About Books, November 27, 2010

Gary Stuart is the author of Innocent Until Interrogated: The True Story of the Buddist Temple Massacre and the Tucson Four. This is an eye-opening book revealing how police interrogations can lead to false confessions...even false confessions of murder. Stuart is an attorney and this University of Arizona Press book shows how sloppy police work and severe interrogations can undermine justice.

Listen to the interview at http://www.wvik.org/listings-aboutbooks.htm

About Books, November 20, 2010

Michael Kammen, a Pulitzer Pize winner, has written a book on a rather quirky subject: Digging Up the Dead:a History of Notable American Reburials. In it you'll read about the the reburial of Edgar Allen Poe from an unmarked grave to a prominent site. Other persons whose remains are moved include Sitting Bull, Jefferson Davis, Daniel Boone, Abraham Lincoln, Frank Lloyd Wright etc. Along the way you'll learn lots about our history and about changing burial practices. Fascinating.

Listen to the interview at http://www.wvik.org/listings-aboutbooks.htm

About Books, November 13, 2010

Heidi Cullen, a senior research scientist with Climate Central, often reports on climate change for the PBS News Hour. Her book, The Weather of the Future: Heat Waves, Extreme Storms, and Other Scenes from a Climate-Changed Planet, explains the extreme weather we have been experiencing like the flooding Red River and Hurricane Katina. She gives a thought provoking look at what our world will be like in 2050 if we do not change the levels of carbon emissions.

Listen to the interview at http://www.wvik.org/listings-aboutbooks.htm