Vick Mickunas

The British historian Robert Service is a leading authority on Russian history with a particular expertise in the period between the October Revolution and the death of Stalin. He is the author of a dozen books including a trilogy of biographies on Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky.

In his latest, "Spies and Commissars - the Early Years of the Russian Revolution," Service examines the four year period from 1917 to 1921 when the Bolsheviks were consolidating their power.

Bill Veeck was one of the most fascinating figures in baseball history. Veeck owned a number of baseball teams over his long career. He was a shameless promoter who changed the way that our American pastime is presented.

Sometimes people will ask me: "how do you pick the books and authors that you choose to feature on your program?" The answer isn't complicated. I look for books that are compelling, entertaining, well-written.

Frank Wheeler Jr. recently published "The Wowzer." It is his first published book. I started to read it and was immediately drawn in to this story. Our narrator is Jerry, a deputy sheriff in a rural county in the Ozarks. Jerry has a unique perspective on the world. As we look through his eyes at the reality that he sees we are drawn in to his life.

"No Game for a Dame" is the first book in new series of detective novels that feature Maggie Sullivan, a hard boiled private eye. This book is set in Dayton, Ohio in the late 1930's. The author has had a long career as a
novelist. In this interview we talked about the creation of this tough talking gumshoe with "great gams" as well as the rapidly changing world of book publishing.

Christopher Buckley has established himself as one of our leading American humorists, a genuine force for farce. In his latest book, "They Eat Puppies, Don't They?," Buckley has penned another mischievous political satire. He imagines a world where a lobbyist for a defense contractor is working on a project that is so secret he doesn't have a clue what the project is actually about. So he guesses. And he is right!