Josh sits down with author, podcaster, and music journalist Andrea Swensson about her new book Deeper Blues: The Life, Songs, and Salvation of Cornbread Harris. This book is the emotional story of James ‘Cornbread’ Harris – a self-proclaimed “blessed dude” and one of Minneapolis’s most influential musicians.
Erik speaks with Kelly Murashige about her debut novel The Lost Souls of Benzaiten, a beautiful story which combines the modern world with Japanese mythology to explore happiness, friendship, and the potential for healing.
Josh speaks to Randall Woods about his book; John Quincy Adams: A Man for the Whole People. In this masterful biography, historian Randall B. Woods peels back the many layers of John Quincy’s long life, exposing a rich and complicated family saga and a political legacy that transformed the American Republic.
Josh talks to Michelle S. Phelps, the author of The Minneapolis Reckoning: Race, Violence, and the Politics of Policing in America. Michelle is associate professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. The Minneapolis Reckoning is about policing and its alternatives, as well as the debates and protests around police abolition following the murder of George Floyd.
This week, Josh interviews author and journalist Peter Hessler about his new book, Other Rivers: A Chinese Education. In Peter Hessler’s hands, China’s education system is the perfect vehicle for examining the country’s past, present, and future, and what we can learn from it, for good and ill.
Josh talks with Steven E. Mayer about his book How to Save the World. This book is for anyone who gets asked at least ten times a week to give money to a charitable organization—anything from your college or place of worship to your community’s food shelf or animal shelter. It helps you choose a set of donations or investments that stand up to your own scrutiny so you can feel your choices are meaningful and consistent with your values.