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Carl Cannon writes about "the degraded conditions of our dysfunctional, rude, hair-on-fire politics"-but also says they've been pretty bad before, in On This Date: Discovering America One Day at a Time.

In a 10-minute conversation with the Bookmonger, Cannon describes how this book was born from the morning emails he writes as Washington Bureau Chief of RealClearPolitics, how he tells the story of America with an unconventional narrative, and why being American comes to us as a gift but turns into an obligation.

Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/bookmonger-john-miller/date-discovering-america-one-day-time/.

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The Wall Street Journal publishes a legendary editorial page-and George Melloan reveals its history from the inside with Free People, Free Markets: How the Wall Street Journal Opinion Pages Shaped America.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Melloan describes the issues that animate the Journal's opinion section, how the editors select the topics they cover, and whether he'd encourage young people to pursue careers in journalism.

Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/bookmonger-john-miller/free-people-free-markets-wall-street-journal-opinion-pages-shaped-america/.

Podcast listeners: Now become a Ricochet member for only $2.50 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/join/.

Subscribe to The Bookmonger with John J. Miller in iTunes (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in iTunes or by RSS feed.

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George Washington was a warrior and a farmer and a leader. Was he also a reader? Kevin J. Hayes says "yes," in George Washington: A Life in Books.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Hayes discusses what Washington liked to read, whether he felt intimidated around great minds such as Jefferson and Hamilton, and why nobody has written an intellectual biography of him.

Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/bookmonger-john-miller/george-washington-life-books/.

Podcast listeners: Now become a Ricochet member for only $2.50 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/join/.

Subscribe to The Bookmonger with John J. Miller in iTunes (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in iTunes or by RSS feed.

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The president you thought you knew was someone else, writes Henry Olsen in The Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Olsen argues that conservatives fundamentally have misunderstood their favorite president-and now they must come to grips with the fact that he was in his heart a New Dealer as well as the fact that President Trump is more an inheritor of Reagan's legacy than they previously have recognized.

Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/bookmonger-john-miller/working-class-republican-ronald-reagan-return-blue-collar-conservatism/.

Podcast listeners: Now become a Ricochet member for only $2.50 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/join/.

Subscribe to The Bookmonger with John J. Miller in iTunes (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in iTunes or by RSS feed.

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The world is more dangerous today than it was just a year ago, says Brad Thor, author of the new thriller, Use of Force.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Thor describes the inspiration for his latest page-turner, discusses the usefulness of "black contracts," and tells why he thinks the Burning Man festival is an obvious target for terrorists.

Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/use-of-force-brad-th/.

Podcast listeners: Now become a Ricochet member for only $2.50 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/join/.

Subscribe to The Bookmonger with John J. Miller in iTunes (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in iTunes or by RSS feed.

Sponsored by Dollar Shave Club

In the tradition of Vince Flynn and Brad Thor comes Peter Kirsanow, author of the debut novel Target Omega.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Kirsanow describes the plot and hero of his new thriller, explains how his service as an appointee to federal commissions in Washington prepared him to write this book, and reveals whether he now plans to have a second career as a novelist.

Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/target-omega/.

Podcast listeners: Now become a Ricochet member for only $2.50 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/join/.

Subscribe to The Bookmonger with John J. Miller in iTunes (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in iTunes or by RSS feed.

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Is it science fiction, fantasy, or a time-travel steampunk adventure story? Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland have included all of this and more in their new novel, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Stephenson and Galland discuss what they mean by "D.O.D.O.," its connection to the extinct bird, and the difference between magic and technology. Stephenson also explains why his books run so long: This one comes in at about 750 pages, making it one of his shorter efforts.

Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/rise-fall-d-o-d-o/.

Podcast listeners: Now become a Ricochet member for only $2.50 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/join/.

Subscribe to The Bookmonger with John J. Miller in iTunes (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in iTunes or by RSS feed.

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Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican president, but he wasn't the first Republican presidential candidate. That honor belongs to the subject of John Bicknell';s biography, Lincoln's Pathfinder: John C. Fremont and the Violent Election of 1856.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Bicknell describes how Fremont turned his fame as an explorer into a political opportunity, why he would have made a better president than the victorious James Buchanan, and whether Lincoln owed his triumph in 1860 to Fremont's defeat four years earlier.

Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/lincolns-pathfinder-john-c-fremont-violent-election-1856/.

Podcast listeners: Now become a Ricochet member for only $2.50 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/join/.

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Sponsored by Zip Recruiter

The pro-life movement would be nowhere without grassroots activists who are women, writes Karissa Haugeberg in Women Against Abortion: Inside the Largest Moral Reform Movement of the Twentieth Century.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Haugeberg explains what attracted her as an academic historian to this topic, whether her liberal professorial colleagues give her funny looks when she describes her research interests, and whether feminism and pro-life activism can coexist.

Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/women-abortion-inside-largest-moral-reform-movement-twentieth-century/.

Podcast listeners: Now become a Ricochet member for only $2.50 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/join/.

Subscribe to The Bookmonger with John J. Miller in iTunes (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in iTunes or by RSS feed.

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They were the indispensable men of the Cold War, says Paul Kengor in A Pope and a President: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Extraordinary Untold Story of the 20th Century.

In a 10-minute conversation with The Bookmonger, Kengor discusses the friendship of these two men, whether the Soviet Union would have collapsed without them, and what the three secrets of Fatima had to do with it.

Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/pope-president-john-paul-ii-ronald-reagan-extraordinary-untold-story-20th-century/.

Podcast listeners: Now become a Ricochet member for only $2.50 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/join/.

Subscribe to The Bookmonger with John J. Miller in iTunes (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in iTunes or by RSS feed.