Discussing "The Silver Bears" and interviewing Paul Erdman.

The working New York fireman and writer sits down to talk about his latest, Glitter & Ash, a novel about politics and privilege. Includes a clip from an interview with Brooklyn fireman Tommy Gates.*Please note: some sections have been edited out from the original recording due to copyright considerations 

In his book, "Additional Dialogue: Letters of Dalton Trumbo, 1942-1962," Dalton Trumbo gives his audience a better understanding of why he was believed to have been warty, abrasive and stubborn. Trumbo believed people have the right to silence and they have the right to speak. He was angered when a book review was written about one book but another author's book was ignored. Trumbo spent time in prison where he was not allowed to write anything negative about the living conditions.

Commemoration of the defunding of the Illinois Writers' Project

Just because a person is young doesn't mean he or she wouldn't want to read and learn from a magazine. Clifton Fadiman is proud of the work Cricket has done, as he's received letters from children, parents, grandparents, and school teachers from all other the world.*Please note: some sections have been edited out from the original recording due to copyright considerations 

Discussing excellence in education with author, historian and cultural critic Christopher Lasch.

Rutherford Calhoun is the main character of Charles Richard Johnson's novel, "Middle Passage." In his quest to get away from his marriage and a bill collector, a freed slave himself, Rutherford stows away onto a ship not realizing that the cargo being carried are slaves from Africa.

Author Carl Vigeland discusses his latest book, a portrait of the 1986-1987 concert season of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO). Vigeland focuses on the nexus between art, business, and music, seen through the tense relationship between Kennedy Center Honoree conductor Seiji Ozawa and principal trumpeter Charles Schlueter.

Author, humorist, and poet Calvin Trillin discusses and reads from his book “Enough’s Enough (and Other Rules of Life),” a collection of humorous essays about everyday topics, from social to political. Studs and Trillin discuss why we get cold fronts from Canada, not Greenland; and how to spot a moderate out in public. Studs plays "Out of My Road, Mr. Toad" - Bud Freeman (1970).

Author Burton Bernstein discusses his latest work and his experiences with learning how to fly, and the inspiration that drove him to explore the unknown parts of the United States. Sections of the work include the discussion of air travel, types of aviation, and how the airports have changed over the years. A featured part of the work reflects privatized airports run by families, such as the O'Briens and the Nutts.

Scientists, women, birth control, religion and ethics are among the topics covered in Bernard Asbell's book, "The Pill: A Biography of the Drug that Changed the World"

Living in the past and the present, Native American Indians and Catholicism are all parts of Louis Erdrich's book, "Tracks: A Novel." Both Michael Dorris and Erdrich have Native American Indian backgrounds. The husband and wife team also talk about how they take long walks with one another and discuss with each the ideas of future books and the books' characters.