The Bookmonger with John J. Miller #147

Free People, Free Markets: How the Wall Street Journal Opinion Pages Shaped America

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The Wall Street Journal publishes a legendary editorial page–and George Melloan reveals its history from the inside with Free People, Free Markets: How the Wall Street Journal Opinion Pages Shaped America.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Melloan describes the issues that animate the Journal’s opinion section, how the editors select the topics they cover, and whether he’d encourage young people to pursue careers in journalism.

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The Bookmonger with John J. Miller #146

George Washington: A Life in Books

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George Washington was a warrior and a farmer and a leader. Was he also a reader? Kevin J. Hayes says “yes,” in George Washington: A Life in Books.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Hayes discusses what Washington liked to read, whether he felt intimidated around great minds such as Jefferson and Hamilton, and why nobody has written an intellectual biography of him.

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The Bookmonger with John J. Miller #145

The Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism

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The president you thought you knew was someone else, writes Henry Olsen in The Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Olsen argues that conservatives fundamentally have misunderstood their favorite president–and now they must come to grips with the fact that he was in his heart a New Dealer as well as the fact that President Trump is more an inheritor of Reagan’s legacy than they previously have recognized.

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The Bookmonger with John J. Miller #144

Brad Thor: Use of Force

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The world is more dangerous today than it was just a year ago, says Brad Thor, author of the new thriller, Use of Force.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Thor describes the inspiration for his latest page-turner, discusses the usefulness of “black contracts,” and tells why he thinks the Burning Man festival is an obvious target for terrorists.

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The Bookmonger with John J. Miller #143

Target Omega

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In the tradition of Vince Flynn and Brad Thor comes Peter Kirsanow, author of the debut novel Target Omega.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Kirsanow describes the plot and hero of his new thriller, explains how his service as an appointee to federal commissions in Washington prepared him to write this book, and reveals whether he now plans to have a second career as a novelist.

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The Bookmonger with John J. Miller #142

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.

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Is it science fiction, fantasy, or a time-travel steampunk adventure story? Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland have included all of this and more in their new novel, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Stephenson and Galland discuss what they mean by “D.O.D.O.,” its connection to the extinct bird, and the difference between magic and technology. Stephenson also explains why his books run so long: This one comes in at about 750 pages, making it one of his shorter efforts.

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The Bookmonger with John J. Miller #141

Lincoln’s Pathfinder: John C. Fremont and the Violent Election of 1856

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Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican president, but he wasn’t the first Republican presidential candidate. That honor belongs to the subject of John Bicknell‘s biography, Lincoln’s Pathfinder: John C. Fremont and the Violent Election of 1856.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Bicknell describes how Fremont turned his fame as an explorer into a political opportunity, why he would have made a better president than the victorious James Buchanan, and whether Lincoln owed his triumph in 1860 to Fremont’s defeat four years earlier.

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The Bookmonger with John J. Miller #140

Women Against Abortion: Inside the Largest Moral Reform Movement of the Twentieth Century

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The pro-life movement would be nowhere without grassroots activists who are women, writes Karissa Haugeberg in Women Against Abortion: Inside the Largest Moral Reform Movement of the Twentieth Century.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Haugeberg explains what attracted her as an academic historian to this topic, whether her liberal professorial colleagues give her funny looks when she describes her research interests, and whether feminism and pro-life activism can coexist.

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The Bookmonger with John J. Miller #139

A Pope and a President: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Extraordinary Untold Story of the 20th Century

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They were the indispensable men of the Cold War, says Paul Kengor in A Pope and a President: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Extraordinary Untold Story of the 20th Century.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Kengor discusses the friendship of these two men, whether the Soviet Union would have collapsed without them, and what the three secrets of Fatima had to do with it.

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The Bookmonger with John J. Miller #138

Selfish Libertarians and Socialist Conservatives? The Foundations of the Libertarian-Conservative Debate

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It’s a debate in the form of a book: Selfish Libertarians and Socialist Conservatives? The Foundations of the Libertarian-Conservative Debate, by Nathan W. Schlueter and Nikolai G. Wenzel.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Schlueter and Wenzel describe their different opinions about immigration, marriage, and other issues as well as explain why their debate matters more than ever in the era of President Trump.

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The Bookmonger with John J. Miller #137

The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming-of-Age Crisis and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance

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Ben Sasse may be a senator, but his new book isn’t about politics. It’s about growing up and it’s called The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming-of-Age Crisis and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance.

In a short conversation with The Bookmonger, Sasse describes the problem of perpetual adolescence, argues that kids need to work, and suggests that this is an area in which conservatives and liberals may be able to find common ground.

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The Bookmonger with John J. Miller #136

White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America

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They’re America’s most misunderstood voting bloc — and Joan Williams explains who they are and what they want in White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Williams explains what professional elites fail to grasp about the white working class, how their ignorance fueled the political rise of Donald Trump, and whether these voters will stay loyal to the man they helped elect to the presidency.

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The Bookmonger with John J. Miller #135

Digging In: Further Collected Writings of Jay Nordlinger

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As a journalist, Jay Nordlinger covers a lot of ground: people, human rights, language, music, golf and more. His best articles and essays from the last decade now appear on the pages of Digging In: Further Collected Writings of Jay Nordlinger.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Nordlinger describes how he comes up with story ideas, the importance of writing about people rather than concepts, and how William F. Buckley Jr. influenced him.

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The Bookmonger with John J. Miller #134

Ballad of the Green Beret

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Barry Sadler recorded one of the biggest pop-song smash hits in American history — and Marc Leepson tells his fascinating story in Ballad of the Green Beret: The Life and Wars of Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler from the Vietnam War and Pop Stardom to Murder and an Unsolved, Violent Death.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Leepson describes how and why Sadler’s song “The Ballad of the Green Berets” struck a nerve in 1966, what happened to Sadler in the aftermath of his huge success, and whether Sadler ever had second thoughts about the Vietnam War.

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The Bookmonger with John J. Miller #133

The Political Theory of the American Founding

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We know what the Founding Fathers said, but what did they mean? That’s the question Thomas G. Westasks, then answers, in The Political Theory of the American Founding: Natural Rights, Public Policy, and the Moral Conditions of Freedom.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, West interprets the phrase “all men are created,” explains how a slaveholder such as Thomas Jefferson could have written those words, and speculates on what the Founders would think of 21st-century America.

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The Bookmonger with John J. Miller #132

A Man and His Presidents: The Political Odyssey of William F. Buckley Jr

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Lots of people read and watched National Review’s William F. Buckley Jr.–and some of them did it from the White House, explains Alvin S. Felzenberg in A Man and His Presidents: The Political Odyssey of William F. Buckley Jr.

In a short conversation with The Bookmonger, Felzenberg explains Buckley’s behind-the-scenes role as a political advisor, how Buckley got to know Ronald Reagan, and what Buckley (who died in 2008) might think of President Trump.

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The Bookmonger with John J. Miller #131

Oppose Any Foe: The Rise of America’s Special Operations Forces

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What’s so special about the Special Forces? Mark Moyar tells all in Oppose Any Foe: The Rise of America’s Special Operations Forces.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Moyar describes how Navy SEALS, Delta Force, and others differ from the conventional military, why presidents and the public are prone to romanticizing them, how President Trump ought to use them.

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The Bookmonger with John J. Miller #130

Charlton Heston: Hollywood’s Last Icon

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He was a movie star who played Moses and Ben-Hur, but some of his most famous roles took place on the stage of politics, writes Marc Eliot in Charlton Heston: Hollywood’s Last Icon.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Eliot explains what make Heston such a compelling figure on screen, picks his favorite Heston movie (it’s a surprise), and describes Heston’s friendship with Ronald Reagan.

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The Bookmonger with John J. Miller #129

Making It

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Fifty years ago, the New York Review of Books savaged Making It, the 1967 memoir by Norman Podhoretz–and now, amazingly, the New York Review’s book imprint is bringing out a new edition.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Podhoretz explains what his half-century-old book has to say to readers now, whether he was surprised by the offer to republish it, and how he became a neoconservative. He also discusses Commentary magazine, which he edited for many years, and reveals what he thinks of the performance of its current editor: his son, John Podhoretz.

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The Bookmonger with John J. Miller #128

The Ambulance Drivers: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and a Friendship Made and Lost in War

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They plotted a literary revolution. Both became famous in their time, but only one endures in the popular imagination today, says James McGrath Morris, author of The Ambulance Drivers: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and a Friendship Made and Lost in War.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Morris describes why Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos drove ambulances during the First World War rather than served as soldiers, how they became pals, and which of their books are worth reading today. He also describes the poltical journey of Dos Passos, who began life on the pacifist left and finished it as a contributor to National Review.

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