The New York Sun Review: ‘The Roosevelts in New York City’ Is an Exhilarating Climb in a Towering Family Tree – Dean Karayanis

November 30, 2025 – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and lifelong Long Islander, Bill Bleyer, joins us in the time machine to walk the streets of Gotham past with his book, “The Roosevelts in New York City.” Among his previous books is “Sagamore Hill: Theodore Roosevelt’s Summer White House.”

The Roosevelts story in America began with Nicholas Roosevelt, a farmer who arrived four centuries ago and planted the seeds of a distinguished and impactful family ― one with ties to many places in New York City. On East 20th St. stands a recreation of the brownstone where President Theodore Roosevelt was born and developed his love of nature. The twin brownstone next door was where his uncle, Robert Roosevelt, instilled in the future president an interest in conservation, while having multiple affairs and even starting a second secret family with a mistress.

The double townhouse on East 65th Street built by Sara Delano Roosevelt still stands, built so that her son, President Franklin Roosevelt, would have a suitable place to raise his family. It also allowed her, as Bill Bleyer says, to keep him tied to her apron strings while she meddled in their lives. Her daughter-in-law — TR’s niece, Eleanor Roosevelt — was driven to tears by having to live in a home that was not her own.

Bill Bleyer details the unique places in the city where family members lived and worked and unveils the private interactions behind this famous American family.

For more interviews on the Roosevelts:

July 4, 2025 – With the 249th birthday of America on July 4, 2025, and the 250th anniversary of Independence Day looming in 2025, the nation’s eyes are cast back to the place where America was born. Paul Kahan returns to tells us how that ground was sown and how the city has grown in “Philadelphia: A Narrative History.”

Paul Kahan earned a Ph.D. from Temple University and is a commentator on U.S. political, economic, and the craft of diplomacy. His book has been described as “accessible” by critics, by which they mean it’s written for everyone to enjoy, not for other academics.

Check out our previous conversations with Paul Kahan:

May 11, 2024 – What happens when a celebrated author — Muhammad Ali’s official biographer, no less — turns his talents to putting his mother’s century-long life down on paper? In this episode, our time machine welcomes aboard Thomas Hauser, author of “My Mother and Me: A Memoir.”

Eleanor Nordlinger Hauser, who passed away last year at 96, experienced a life of success and failures, meeting the march of years with resilience and grace until she made her peace with the fact that — as we all do someday— she had run out of tomorrows.

Thomas Hauser is the author of fiction and non-fiction books that are best-sellers the world over. They include “Final Warning: The Legacy of Chernobyl” and “Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times.” As you might expect for the official biographer of The Greatest, he has been inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame.

For more on Ali and boxing, check out these previous interviews:

April 1, 2024 – Where would an enslaved man who escaped the South find the courage to return to the Confederacy as a Union Spy? In this episode, we meet such a man thanks to Robert Hilliard, author of “In Freedom’s Shadow.” The novel is based on the heroic true story of John Scobell, an enslaved African American who escaped early in the Civil War.

Recruited by the Union to return south and gather intelligence, Scobell found new purpose as a spy. These was no ritzy James Bond missions, but daring border crossings, nerve-wracking dead drops, and a man at risk every moment of exposure, which would mean torture and death.

Rob has written about sports, history, and the outdoors for over two decades. He last joined us to discuss his book, “A Season on the Allegheny.” You can listen to that interview in our archives wherever you enjoy the show and find Rob on Twitter and Facebook.

October 11, 2023 – In this episode, our time machine welcomes aboard Brent Butt, who those of you in the Great White North know as the creator and star of the sitcom “Corner Gas,” so beloved by Canadians that it has spawned an animated version and a movie. He’s also host of the Butt Pod, which — since you probably have your phone out right now — I suggest you swipe over and subscribe to for some really insightful interviews.

Brent Butt puts his talents to work on the thriller genre in “Huge: A Novel.” The story hits the circuit of nameless clubs in Western Canda where two comedians — one, a veteran in the business from America; the other, a lady newcomer from Ireland — meet the aspiring headliner who’ll change their lives, and perhaps end them.

You can read more at HugeTheNovel.com and — speaking of our guest always growing, refusing to be pigeonholed by one genre — these days, Brent Butt is transitioning to publishing more content on Substack as he transitions away from @BrentButt on Twitter.

September 4, 2023 – How did airship R101 — embodying the British Empire’s global ambitions — die in fireball of dreams, romance, and hubris and turn to ashes in the pages of history? S.C. Gwynne brings us this story of reaching for the sky in “His Majesty’s Airship: The Life and Tragic Death of the World’s Largest Flying Machine.”

S.C. Gwynne previously joined us to discuss his books, “Hymns of the Republic: The Story of the Final Year of the American Civil War,” and “The Perfect Pass: American Genius and the Reinvention of Football.” His 2010 book, “Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History,” was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Visit our guest at SCGwynne.com or @SCGwynne on Twitter and @S.C.Gwynne on Facebook.

July 30, 2023 – What did service in the World Wars mean to women who found new opportunities to enter the workforce and join the fight as never before? We’ll go on a fictional ride with one of those service members with today’s novelist, Jenni Walsh.

Her novel is “The Call of the Wrens,” the third she joined us to discuss after her debut, “Becoming Bonnie,” and its sequel, “Side By Side,” about “the crash of the century,” when Bonnie Parker met Clyde Barrow. You can find those conversations in our archives wherever you enjoy the show or via the links above.

In “The Call of the Wrens,” Jenni introduces us to the women of Britain’s Women’s Royal Naval Service who are shaped by service in the Great War and twenty years later in World War Two, when they’re confronted by a life-changing moment that they meet head on at 70 miles an hour.

It’s a vivid, emotional saga of love, secrets, resilience—and the knowledge that the future will always belong to the brave souls who fight for it.

Visit our guest at JenniLWalsh.com, follow her @JenniLWalsh on Twitter and Instagram, and like her page on Facebook. Special thanks to Shannon Hargreaves of @the_reel_bookery on Instagram for submitting a video question for this interview.

The New York Sun – ‘Baseball, Nazis & Nedick’s Hot Dogs’ Is a Story of Fathers, Sons, and a Lost America – Dean Karayanis

June 17, 2023 – Reading about history is one thing, but what happens when a legendary sportswriter looks back nearly a century to recall his upbringing in Newark, New Jersey, during the trying decades of the ‘30s and ‘40s – as a Jewish kid, mind you — while Wall Street crashed and Hitler made war on the world?

In this episode, our time machine welcomes aboard a real time-traveler — at least, that’s how I like to think of people who bring us their memories from days few of us lived. His name is Jerry Izenberg, and his memoir — the most personal of his many books — is titled, “Baseball, Nazis & Nedick’s Hot Dogs: Growing up Jewish in the 1930s in Newark.”

Jerry Izenberg is one of just two daily newspaper columnists to have covered the first 53 Super Bowls. He’s also been there for 54 consecutive Kentucky Derbies and the last five Triple Crown-winning horses. He earned the Red Smith Award for sports writing, has been named the New Jersey Sportswriter of the Year five times – oh, and is an inductee in in 17 Halls of Fame.

In his memoir, Mr. Izenberg – now in his 90s – casts his keen eye back on his first two decades of life, the ones that made him who he is today, as he faced antisemitism, the Great Depression, and World War II to find love, community, and purpose. It’s a life well lived, and it ain’t over yet.

Thanks to David Pietrusza, author of the upcoming book, “Gangsterland: A Tour Through the Dark Heart of Jazz-Age New York City,” for submitting a video question for his fellow baseball writer. You can enjoy my previous interviews with David here:

The New York Sun – ‘It Ain’t Over’ Documents Yogi Berra’s Amazing American Life – Dean Karayanis

May 11, 2023 – Who was the greatest Major League Baseball catcher of all time? If the name Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra doesn’t spring to mind, have I got the movie for you. It’s the story of a kid from St. Louis and D-Day veteran whose life story has the power to uplift not just fans, but people from all walks of life.

In this episode, our time machine welcomes aboard sports journalist Lindsay Berra, whose here to talk about the new documentary made about the life of her grandfather, New York Yankees legend Yogi Berra.

The film is called “It Ain’t Over,” and if you grew up with Berra as just a pitchman, if you know him only from his Yogisims or the Hanna-Barbera rip-off cartoon Bear Who Shall Not Be Named, you are missing out on a chance to be inspired.

For more on Yogi Berra’s service in World War II, check out the event I emceed at the at the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center in Little Falls, New Jersey, conducted in partnership with the Bob Feller Act of Valor Foundation. It was titled: Sacrifice & Courage — A Tribute to D-Day.

The New York Sun – ‘Mourning the Presidents’ Considers How the Republic Eulogizes its Leaders – Dean Karayanis

May 1, 2023 – When a president of the United States dies, what does how we memorialize his life and service say about the republic? Our time machine welcomes back Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky to give her insights as we discuss “Mourning the Presidents: Loss and Legacy in American Culture,” co-written with Matthew R. Costello.

The book includes observation of several scholars, bringing to life a vision shared by the White House Historical Association and the Southern Methodist University Center for Presidential History where Dr. Chervinsky is a senior fellow in addition to her responsibilities teaching about the presidency at the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University.

Dr. Chervinsky last joined us for an interview about her debut book, “The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution,” which earned the Daughters of the American Revolution’s Excellence in American History Book Award and the Thomas J. Wilson Memorial Prize.

Visit LindsayChervinsky.com for more or find our guest on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. You can also subscribe to her email newsletter, Imperfect Union, which sends valuable and interesting observations straight to your inbox.

Thanks to presidential historian Louis Picone for submitting a video question for this interview. You can enjoy our three conversations about his special books in our archives.