From 2011 comes a conversation with Steven Pinker, author of the much-discussed book "The Better Angels of our Nature:  Why Violence has Declined."   Pinker contends in his book that - contrary to our common assumptions - the world is much less violent than it once was.  

From 2017:   Susan Stryker, author of "Transgender History:  The Roots of Today's Revolution."  October is LGBT History Month.  

We speak with Luce Brett about her new book "PMSL: Or how I literally pissed myself laughing and survived the last taboo to tell the tale."  Ms. Brett suffered an injury while giving birth to her first child - and became incontinent.   Her book is a disarmingly honest- and often entertaining account of what it was like to contend with incontinence at the age of thirty.   

Bryan Albrecht, president of Gateway Technical College-  and Cheryl Carrier,  CEO of Ford Next Generation Learning, which has partnerships with school districts across the country, including the Racine Unified School District.  

Mary Frances Winters talks about his book "Black Fatigue: How Racism Erodes the Mind, Body and Spirit." 

We have a quick follow up interview with Rick Riordan about his latest book,  "The Tower of Nero."  the fifth and final installment in his series "The Trials of Apollo."  

Nan Calvert (from Root-Pike Watershed Initiative) has organized a conversation about the importance of wetlands and wetlands restoration.  She' is joined by Dave Giordano, executive director of Root Pike WIN - as well as Joshua Brown from the Wisconsin DNR;  Brown is coordinating the Meacham Road wetland project in Mount Pleasant.  

Ben Loeterman is the director/producer/writer of "Walter Winchell: The Power of Gossip,"  the next episode in the PBS series American Masters.  The film airs Tuesday night on PBS. 

From 2005 -  Robert Trachtenberg discusses his book "When I Knew," which gathers together the recollections of different people about when it was that they first believed themselves to be gay.   The mood of the stories ranges  from humorous to deeply poignant. 

From 2007 comes this conversation with Diane Ackerman about "The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story," which recounts how the director of the Warsaw Zoo and his wife Antonina hid more than 300 Jews on the grounds of the zoo and assisted many of them in escaping to the countryside during World War II.  The book was adapted into a major motion picture in 2017 that starred Jessica Chastain in the title role.