Authors on the Air: Tearing Down Spector; Lee Brothers Cook; Helen Thomas Vents

Compiled by Diane Patrick, PW Daily -- Publishers Weekly, 6/8/2007

Today, The Bob Edwards Show talked to U.K. journalist and author Mick Brown about Tearing Down the Wall of Sound: The Rise and Fall of Phil Spector (Knopf, $26.95; Blackstone Audiobooks unabridged CD, $34.95). PW’s starred review declared it an “eminently readable and thoroughly researched biography. Stacked with incredible anecdotes, Brown's entertaining and nuanced portrait lifts the fog of myth and outright falsehood (including Spector's own) that have obscured the celebrity producer (like an enormous, gravity-defying wig) through the years.”

On The Leonard Lopate Show, food writers Matt and Ted Lee served up The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook: Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-be Southerners (Norton, $35). PW’s starred review had this to say: “Classy, matter-of-fact and welcoming, this volume deserves a permanent place on cooks' shelves by day and on bedside tables by night, as a browsable primer on a world and its food.”

Tonight, Tavis Smiley’s guest is historian Michael Beschloss, author of Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789-1989 (S&S, $28; S&S Audio abridged CD, $29.95).

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson hosts Criss Angel, master illusionist and author of Mindfreak: Secret Revelations (HarperEntertainment, $24.95).

This weekend, Tim Russert meets with veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas, who unleashes Watchdogs of Democracy? The Waning Washington Press Corps and How It Has Failed the Public (Scribner, $14).

This weekend on Book TV:

Historian Kenneth Ackerman examines Young J. Edgar: Hoover, the Red Scare, and the Assault on Civil Liberties (Carroll & Graf, $28.95). From PW’s review: “Ackerman captures well the pathological character of the young Hoover and argues effectively that there is a cautionary tale in the corrosive effect of the denial of civil liberties and extralegal measures employed in the red scare raids.”

Journalist Mike Evans makes The Final Move Beyond Iraq: The Final Solution While the World Sleeps (Frontline, $14.99).

Israeli journalist Tom Segev recounts 1967: Israel, the War, and the Year That Transformed the Middle East (Metropolitan, $35).

Sunday, on Fox & Friends Weekend, Shant Kenderian traces 1001 Nights in Iraq: The Shocking Story of an American Forced to Fight for Saddam Against the Country He Loves (Atria, $15; Blackstone Audio unabridged CD, $55), which PW explained covers “his strange odyssey from American schoolboy to Iraqi soldier and U.S. prisoner of war in this unique and informative autobiography.”

On Sunday’s Wrestling Observer Live: Irvin Muchnick, nephew of the legendary St. Louis wrestling promoter Sam Muchnick and author of Wrestling Babylon: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal (ECW Press, $17.95).

Due to the nature of live programming, scheduling is subject to change. For more detailed information about author appearances on these shows and others as well as listings of book mentions and book reviews, see TitleSmart.

For more information on these titles, click here.

"Authors on the Air" is compiled by Diane Patrick. To be included in the compilation, e-mail DPatrickPW@aol.com.

« Back | Print