Back Stories

Elyssa is joined by Elizabeth Moffett, a Jobs for America’s Graduates teacher at Whiteland Community High School. Elizabeth provides context on “Educated” by Tara Westover. A memoir of what happens when a girl grows up in a survivalist community in Idaho and doesn’t start formal education until college.

Up next, Elyssa continues the memoir theme of the show by looking at “Heartland: a Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth” by Sarah Smarsh who asks us to look at modern-day America differently.

Plus, Elyssa and Elizabeth find a way to include Dolly Parton in the conversation.

How do you connect Emily Post, Julian Fellowes, “Downton Abby,” Pierce Brosnan, the House of Lords and the HBO series “The Gilded Age”? Elyssa, and Back Stories guest host Nicole, of JCPL’s Trafalgar Branch, accomplish that and provide a few laughs along the way.

For a teenage detective, Nancy Drew has been around a long time. Erin Cataldi from the JCPL Clark Pleasant Branch Library provides a look at the history of this literary character and how she has changed over the years. Season 2 host Elyssa Everling tells the tale of the DC Comics character Lucifer created by Neil Gaiman which was turned into a TV series for ABC.

Erik Larson’s “The Devil in the White City,” tells the story of America’s first serial killer H.H. Holmes. Season 2 host Elyssa Everling covers his story. David Pfeiffer of the Johnson County Museum of History-Indiana gives the backstory on Franklin, IN native Georgiana Yoke, told in the book “A Competent Witness,” as the only woman to survive being married to Holmes.

In this episode of Back Stories Amy and Elyssa dig deeper into how fairy tales have been told in different cultural settings. Elyssa looks at the Amish Fairytales Series by author Sarah Price. Amy discusses Marissa Meyer’s retelling of famous tales.

When you mention Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid many people think of Disney movies. But these tales are nearly as old as time. Amy and her guest Erin take a look at the origins of these stories and touch on their impact on society and how we view traditional relationships.

It’s an all Amy episode. Amy provides the backstory on author Amy Stewarts’ series of Kopp Sisters. For well over a decade, in the early 1900s, their exploits as crime-fighters and detectives made newspapers nationwide–but they’d been entirely forgotten. You can find more on the Kopp Sisters mentioned in this episode here.

Amy’s guest, Amy H. takes a look at the 1980s set sitcom The Goldbergs. The show is loosely based on the real-life experiences of the show’s creator’s childhood, during which he regularly videotaped events. There is no one named Amy in the family. But the discussion is interesting nonetheless.

Amy digs into the backstory of regency romances and Netflix’s Bridgerton series. Her guest Jody, the Library’s marketing and communications manager examines how real-life experiences shaped author Erle Stanley Gardner’s fiction writing, including the long-running series Perry Mason.

This episode was first presented live via Zoom.

If the names Elwyn Brooks White, or EB White, and Margaret Wise Brown sound unfamiliar, then you may recognize them better by the titles of their works. White’s repertoire includes novels such as Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web, the first-place winner in a 2012 survey of the top one hundred children’s novels. In addition to his works of fiction, White contributed to The New Yorker magazine and co-authored the English language style guide, The Elements of Style. Brown, who was also a children’s author, wrote Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny, which earned her the epithet “the laureate of the nursery” for her literary achievements.

Amy and Darcy unravel the writing careers of these renowned authors, and ultimately, discover a common thread: the influence of Anne Carroll Moore, educator, writer and advocate for children’s libraries.

In this episode of Back Stories Amy and her guest dig into books and authors who face challenges. Amy gives the backstory on Australian author Madeleine Ryan’s book “A Room Called Earth.” Amy’s guest, Katie, looks at the life and challenges of Carrie Fisher.