Booktalk with Diana Korte

Award-winning African ecologist Paula Kahumbu, author of SECRETS OF THE ELEPHANTS, is one of the world’s preeminent advocates for elephant conservation and the fight against illegal poaching of elephants for the ivory trade. 

Her gorgeous co-authored National Geographic coffee table book is a companion to the TV series of the same name.

As big as a bus and weighing up to 11 tons, elephants have fascinated us for centuries. But only recently have scientists been able to observe their innermost workings as individuals, families, and herds.

Kahumbu describes how she became committed to elephants, how they communicate with each other in ways unknown until recently, and which one of the four types of these animals is in grave peril. 

The always fun Lisa Scottoline is back with her 37th novel, LOYALTY, a historical novel about the beginnings of the Mafia on the island of Sicily in the 1800’s. 

Readers will be transported to the dramatic and ruggedly beautiful island of Sicily, the jewel of the Mediterranean, where lush lemon groves and mouth-watering cuisine contrast with a turbulent history of colonization and corruption.   

Tune in for Italian American former lawyer/law professor Scottoline explaining what’s missing from the movie The Godfather, why law and justice are often not the same thing, and why in some families loyalty is everything. 

She has an amazing 30 million books in print and has been published in 35 countries.  

Steven Simon, author of seven books, is currently a fellow at MIT after spending nearly 40 years specializing in the Middle East in a variety of high-level jobs both in and out of government. 

In his newest book, “GRAND DELUSION: The Rise and Fall of American Ambition in the Middle East,” he is both candid and clear about the gap between US policymakers’ fantasy and reality in this part of the world. He calls out the enormous and terrible consequences, particularly for the people in the region caught in the crossfire. 

In our conversation he explains the origins of US interest in the Middle East, which president offered “The Deal of the Century” (chapters are organized by president), and what 2 countries in the region actually benefitted from the American presence.

Inspired by a 25-year-old New York Times article about World War II evacuated English children revisiting their U.S. foster homes as adults, Laura Spence-Ash tells her own well researched story, ⁠BEYOND THAT, THE SEA.

The book follows the lives of two families over three decades. Their lives become intertwined when Beatrix, the eleven-year-old daughter of the English family, is sent to live with an American family during the height of the London Blitz.

Bea’s story begins as German bombs fall over London in 1940, and her working-class parents Millie and Reginald Thompson make an impossible choice: they decide to send her to the United States for safety.  When she arrives in Boston, she meets her new family, Nancy and Ethan Gregory and their two sons with whom she'll live for five years.

Former Associated Press Mexico City Bureau Chief Katherine Corcoran's IN THE MOUTH OF THE WOLF. A Murder, A Cover-up, and The True Cost of Silencing the Press reports some of the facts why 85 Mexican journalists have been killed in the past decade with no consequences for the killers.

Except for war zones, Mexico--a democracy--is the world's most dangerous country for journalists.

Corcoran focuses on the murder of legendary journalist Regina Martínez who was no stranger to retaliation. A journalist out of Mexico's state of Veracruz, Regina's stories for the magazine Proceso laid out the corruption and abuse underlying Mexican politics. In 2012 she was bludgeoned to death in her bathroom. The message was clear: No journalist in Mexico was safe.

At the AP, she led an award-winning team that broke major stories about cartel and state violence and abuse of authority in Mexico and Central America. Her columns about Mexican politics and press freedom have appeared in numerous newspapers and publications.

In Marc Schultz's THE GOOD LIFE, what makes for a happy life, a fulfilling life? A good life?

The simple but surprising answer is: relationships. The stronger our relationships, the more likely we are to live happy, satisfying, and overall healthier lives. In fact, the Harvard Study of Adult Development reveals that the strength of our connections with others can predict the health of both our bodies and our brains as we go through life.

For over eight decades, this study has tracked the same individuals and their families, asking thousands of questions and taking hundreds of measurements—from brain scans to blood work—with the goal of discovering what really makes for happiness and a good life.

Elaine Weiss's THE WOMAN’S HOUR: The Great Fight to Win the Vote tells the true story of the suffragettes—women in the face of enormous opposition who fought for and won American women's right to vote in 1920, a long 131 years after American men cast their first ballots.

As the book opens up, it's that fateful summer. After 70 years of a long fought campaign for equal citizenship for 27 million women, one of the pivotal political battles in United States history is unfolding in Nashville, Tennessee.  The women's suffrage movement needed just one more state to ratify the 19th Amendment, and it all came down to this state.  In the state legislature that summer, Tennessee ratified the 19th Amendment by one vote in August, 1920. 

Weiss reveals what it took for activists to win this crucial battle and how close they came to losing.  Woman’s Hour is more than just a vivid work of history, it is an inspiration for everyone who continues the fight for justice and equal rights today.

Jennifer Herrera’s debut thriller and first in a series is THE HUNTER.

After reckless behavior costs NYPD detective Leigh O’Donnell her job and her marriage, she returns with her four-year-old daughter to her beautiful hometown of Copper Falls, Ohio in this richly atmospheric novel.

Three men in town have drowned in what Leigh suspects to be a triple homicide. She hopes that by finding out who killed them, she just might get her life back on course. 

Tune in for her explanation of why fictional murder victims are usually women, yet statistics say 80% of homicide victims are men. 

Jennifer Herrera is a former philosophy grad student turned literary agent (her day job), whose first task in the publishing world was ghost writing.

Artist and singer Melissa Newman, one of the 5 daughters of actor Paul Newman who died in 2008, spoke with me about her dad’s posthumous memoir, “PAUL NEWMAN, The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man.”

It was compiled from interviews he gave to a close friend, and it sheds light on the self-doubt of the seemingly cool and calm Hollywood legend who was a deeply private man living an intensely public life.

His major film roles (out of 65 movies) include 3 of my favorites Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Sting. He was also a race car driver starting at age 47.  He won several national championships and took home the prize at his last race behind the wheel of a 700-horsepower Corvette when he was in his 80s.

A leading philanthropist of the 20th century, Newman raised and donated nearly $1 billion to many charities. He had six children and was married to Oscar-winning actress Joanne Woodward for fifty years.

LONGPATH by futurist Ari Wallach is about a mindset that looks at a future where new ways aren’t quite here yet and the old ways don’t work anymore.

Drawing on history, theology, neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, and social technologies, Wallach teaches readers to strengthen their ability to look ahead, relieve reactions to stressful events, increase capacity for cooperation, and even boost creativity.

Founder of a company that’s worked with CNN, Volkswagen Global, and The UN Refugee Agency among many others, in our conversation Wallach also describes the future trend he didn’t see coming.