Dialogue with Marcia Franklin

Host Marcia Franklin talks with New Yorker writer George Packer, who has been to Iraq six times. Packer discusses his book on the subject, The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq, which the New York Times named one of the ten best books of 2005. He also talks with Franklin about the changing political landscape at home in America.

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Originally Aired: 10/05/2008

The interview is part of Dialogue's series, "Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference," and was taped at the 2008 conference. Since 1995, the conference has been bringing together some of the world's most well-known and illuminating authors to discuss literature and life.

Idaho Public Television host Marcia Franklin interviews Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Haynes Johnson about his nonfiction book, The Age of Anxiety: McCarthyism to Terrorism, in which he examines the parallels between the McCarthy era of the 1950s and today's post 9-11 political arena. He also offers his views on Fidel Castro's place in Cuba, and opines about the current states of journalism and education.

Don't forget to subscribe, and visit the Dialogue website for more conversations that matter!

Originally Aired: 12/14/2006

The interview is part of Dialogue's series, "Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference," and was taped at the 2006 conference. Since 1995, the conference has been bringing together some of the world's most well-known and illuminating authors to discuss literature and life. This was the second year Marcia Franklin interviewed speakers there.

After the 9/11 attacks, were Americans any safer five years later? Marcia Franklin asks that question of counterterrorism expert Juliette Kayyem, who also discusses the recommendations of a report she co-authored, "Preserving Security and Democratic Freedoms on the War in Terrorism."

Don't forget to subscribe, and visit the Dialogue website for more conversations that matter!

Originally Aired: 09/14/2006

The interview is part of Dialogue's series, "Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference," and was taped at the 2006 conference. Since 1995, the conference has been bringing together some of the world's most well-known and illuminating authors to discuss literature and life. This was the second year Marcia Franklin interviewed speakers there.

Idaho Public Television host Marcia Franklin talks with Thomas Cahill, the former director of religious publishing at Doubleday and the author of The Hinges of History, a seven-volume series that examines the transitional moments in Western civilization. They discuss several of the volumes, including How the Irish Saved Civilization, The Gift of the Jews, Why the Greeks Matter and The World Before and After Jesus, as well as the commonalities we have with ancient civilizations.

Don't forget to subscribe, and visit the Dialogue website for more conversations that matter!

Originally Aired: 12/29/2005

The interview is part of Dialogue's series, "Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference," and was taped at the 2005 conference. Since 1995, the conference has been bringing together some of the world's most well-known and illuminating authors to discuss literature and life. This was the first year Marcia Franklin interviewed speakers there.

Firoozeh Dumas, the Iranian-born humorist and author of Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America, talks with Marcia Franklin about growing up as an Iranian immigrant in California after the Iranian Revolution, why she felt it was so important to write her memoir, and the role of humor in her life.

Don't forget to subscribe, and visit the Dialogue website for more conversations that matter!

Originally Aired: 12/22/2005

The interview is part of Dialogue's series, "Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference," and was taped at the 2005 conference. Since 1995, the conference has been bringing together some of the world's most well-known and illuminating authors to discuss literature and life. This was the first year Marcia Franklin interviewed speakers there.

The recipient of the coveted Caldecott Medal, David Macaulay is the creator of children's books that explain how architectural wonders such as pyramids and cathedrals were built. He and host Marcia Franklin discuss his show, "Building Big," his books Cathedral and Mosque, and his philosophy on modern architecture.

Don't forget to subscribe, and visit the Dialogue website for more conversations that matter!

Originally Aired: 12/15/2005

The interview is part of Dialogue's series, "Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference," and was taped at the 2005 conference. Since 1995, the conference has been bringing together some of the world's most well-known and illuminating authors to discuss literature and life. This was the first year Marcia Franklin interviewed speakers there.

Idaho Public Television host Marcia Franklin talks with Robert MacNeil, the veteran journalist, author, and former co-host of the NewsHour on PBS. MacNeil, who was born in Canada, talks about becoming an American, how the news profession changed over the course of his career, and his love for the English language.

Don't forget to subscribe, and visit the Dialogue website for more conversations that matter!

Originally Aired: 12/08/2005

The interview is part of Dialogue's series, "Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference," and was taped at the 2005 conference. Since 1995, the conference has been bringing together some of the world's most well-known and illuminating authors to discuss literature and life. This was the first year Marcia Franklin interviewed speakers there.

Idaho Public Television host Marcia Franklin talks with award-winning Australian author Thomas Keneally about his novel Schindler's Ark, which was the basis for the Oscar-winning movie, Schindler's List. They discuss his experiences researching and writing the book, as well as his thoughts on adapting the story to film with Steven Spielberg. They also take a peek at Keneally's next book, The Commonwealth of Thieves: The Story of the Founding of Australia.

Don't forget to subscribe, and visit the Dialogue website for more conversations that matter!

Originally Aired: 12/01/2005

The interview is part of Dialogue's series, "Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference," and was taped at the 2005 conference. Since 1995, the conference has been bringing together some of the world's most well-known and illuminating authors to discuss literature and life. This was the first year Marcia Franklin interviewed speakers there.

Marcia Franklin talks with Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), the last of the so-called "Big Six" leaders of the African-American civil rights movement.

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Originally Aired: 11/14/2014

Lewis was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1963 to 1966, and played a seminal role in some of the 56 most important activities of the movement, including the Freedom Rides, the march from Selma to Montgomery and the March on Washington (at which he was the youngest speaker). He became a United States Representative in 1986.

During their conversation, Lewis and Franklin discussed his emotions on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act, the election of President Obama, what Lewis sees as current civil rights challenges, and his advice to the next generation. The two also discuss a trilogy of graphic novels called March that he and a staffer, Andrew Aydin, are writing. The series illustrates the congressman's life in the civil rights movement. The first book hit #1 on the New York Times Best Sellers List.

The interview is part of Dialogue's series, "Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference," and was taped at the 2014 conference. Since 1995, the conference has been bringing together some of the world's most well-known and illuminating authors to discuss literature and life. Marcia Franklin has interviewed speakers there since 2005.

In the lead-up to the November 2016 elections, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham joined Dialogue host Marcia Franklin to talk about presidential character. Meacham talks with Franklin about the qualities he believes are essential to being a successful president, and the unique nature of the 2016 presidential race.

An executive editor at Random House, Meacham is well-known for his appearances on political discussion programs. He started his journalistic career at the Chattanooga Times and rose to become the editor of Newsweek. Meacham was the speaker at the Idaho Humanities Council's 2016 Distinguished Humanities Lecture in Boise.

Meacham's latest book is His Truth Is Marching On: John Lewis and the Power of Hope with an afterword by John Lewis. His 2015 book Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush was a #1 New York Times bestseller. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 2009 for his book American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House. He's also the author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship, and American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers and the Making of a Nation.

Originally Aired: 10/20/2016

Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and visit the Dialogue website for more conversations that matter!