Two major themes in this podcast:   How Twain became a celebrity and how he nurtured and maintained his enormous fame and a look at his most famous book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and how it contributed to the lasting fame he achieved. wfstrongpodcast@gmail.comSupport the Show.

Twain's Fame

As I already have a podcast produced by the Texas Standard, Stories from Texas,  I wanted to launch a new one that would go beyond the limits of where my stories are typically corralled.  I'm calling it Beyond Texas so that I can share the many inspirational and astounding stories I know  that don't fit the theme I'm most known for.  Here you will get me, for better or worse, unabridged.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

Arts

Literature

Performing Arts

Design

Food

Fashion & Beauty

Visual Arts

Books

Often listed as one of the top ten best short stories ever written in America,  The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,  by Ambrose Bierce remains, even today, a particularly haunting  story for everyone who has ever read it, or seen the Twilight Zone episode based on the story which Rod Serling aired in 1961.  Support the Show.

The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce

Excerpts from the extraordinarily poignant book by Nobel Prize winning Spanish author, Juan Ramón Jiménez.  I call it a children´s book for adults, but children can certainly enjoy it, too.   Like all great literature, it works on many levels. Support the Show.

Platero y Yo

Jack London's To Build a Fire is often listed among the top 100 of best short stories ever written.  Now that North America and Europe are in the deep freeze of winter, it seemed to me a great time, given the natural ambiance, to share London's masterpiece. wfstrongpodcast@gmail.comSupport the Show.

To Build a Fire by Jack London

An interview with best-selling author Daniel Brown concerning his book, now a movie, The Boys in the Boat.  This interview is ten years old but has fresh relevance given that the book is once again a best-seller, thanks to Clooney's film. In this interview Daniel shares the story of how this inspiring saga found him and how he was deeply moved by the then old men who told him,  in intimate interviews,  about their magical win at the 1936 Olympics, and the incredible bonds that ...

The Boys in the Boat - Interview with author Daniel Brown

Part Two of our conversation with Lindsay Powell, an expert on classical Roman history and co-author of a book about Julius Caesar, as well as a solo author of a book about his successor, Caesar Augustus.  In this episode we talk about the events that led up to the assassination of Caesar and the general incompetence of the assassins in preparing for the power vacuum that would follow.  They did not anticipate the chaos of Rome without Caesar, nor did they realize that the majority ...

Twain's Fame

Download our free app to listen on your phone