Elliot Williams, "Five Bullets"

For his book, "Five Bullets," attorney Elliot Williams wrote 95,720 words. On the back of the cover of the book, writer Garrett Graff sums up the story this way: "Never has a book about the 1980s felt more like current events than Elliot Williams's journey back to one of America's most notorious shootings, when Bernie Goetz opened fire in a crowded New York City subway…'Five Bullets' is a haunting examination of our nation's complicated fascination with vigilantes and the politics of crime…" A lot of the people who were instrumental to this story are deceased. However, the man at the center, Bernie Goetz, is still alive at 78 and still lives in New York City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Russian Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group, marched toward Moscow starting on June 23, 2023. His forces were advancing north on M4 Highway after seizing Rostov-on-Don. The rebellion against his longtime colleague Vladimir Putin was halted the next day. Literally two months later, at a little past 6pm, Prigozhin and nine others boarded his Embraer 600 jet in Moscow. Several minutes later, at 6:20pm, over Tver, Russia, 100-miles north of Moscow, the plane exploded. All 10 passengers perished, including two pilots and the flight attendant. Writer and intelligence expert, Candace Rondeaux , gives us the rest of the story in her book, "Putin's Sledgehammer: The Wagner Group and Russia's Collapse into Mercenary Chaos." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the December 1, 2025, print edition of the Wall Street Journal, there was this headline on page R25: "These 10 books changed the way Americans thought about work." Carol Hymowitz, the author, wrote: "It began with Benjamin Franklin, who couldn't stop working or writing about work throughout his 84-year long life." Carol Hymowitz has been associated with the Wall Street Journal since she got her master's degree in journalism at Columbia University. Other books she featured in this article about work include Tocqueville, Frederick Douglass, Upton Sinclair, John Steinbeck, Dale Carnegie, and C. Wright Mills, plus others. We wanted to know how she chose these 10 books about work, so we had a chat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jonathan Horn's latest book is titled "The Fate of the Generals: MacArthur, Wainwright, and the Epic Battle for the Philippines." The publisher Scribner explains the premise of Horn's book: "For the doomed stand American forces made in the Philippines at the start of World War II, two generals received the country's highest military award, the Medal of Honor. One was the charismatic Douglas MacArthur whose orders forced him to leave his troops and go to Australia. The other was the gritty Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright who became a hero to the troops whose fate he insisted on sharing." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anne Marshall is associate professor of history and executive director of the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library at Mississippi State University. Her book is "Cassius Marcellus Clay: The Life of an Antislavery Slaveholder and the Paradox of American Reform." Clay lived to be 92, had two wives and 11 children. Kentucky was his home state. As an antislavery reformer, Cassius Marcellus Clay is often remembered as a knife-wielding rabble rouser who both inspired and enraged his contemporaries. Abraham Lincoln made him minister to Russia. And yes, the boxer Muhammad Ali was originally named after him, but decided he wanted his own original name. Ann Marshall will discuss all this with us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"The Trillion Dollar War Machine" is the name of the book. The co-authors are William Hartung and Ben Freeman. They both do work for the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a think tank in Washington, D.C. It's a nonprofit research organization whose stated purpose is to oppose the military-industrial complex described by President Eisenhower in his 1961 farewell address. We will talk with co-author Ben Freeman, the Quincy Institute Director of Democratizing Foreign Policy. The subtitle of the book is: "How Runaway Military Spending Drives America into Foreign Wars and Bankrupts Us at Home." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After 15 books on Revolutionary America, John Ferling still has more to say about the early period in the life of the United States. Ferling is professor emeritus of history at the University of West Georgia. In the preface of his 2025 book, "Shots Heard Round the World," Prof. Ferling opens with this: "Now that America will be commemorating the 250th anniversary of its War of Independence, what pops into your mind as you hear or witness references to that conflict?" Prof. Ferling gives his answer in a 500-page book focusing on America, Britain, and Europe in the Revolutionary War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Irish American writer Frank McCourt wrote a book in 1996 that was on the New York Times bestseller list for over 100 weeks. Over the next 20 years, "Angela's Ashes" sold close to 10 million copies worldwide. It was translated into 24 languages. McCourt was born in New York City, but moved with his family to Limerick, Ireland, for his childhood years. Frank McCourt died at age 78 in 2009 of melanoma cancer. He was a guest on the Booknotes television program on September 19th, 1996. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week's encore interview is from September 21, 1997. Twenty-eight years ago. Our guest was Peter J. Gomes, former minister of the Memorial Church at Harvard. His father was from Cape Verde, and his mother was African-American. In 1991, he identified himself as gay but says he remained celibate. Professor Gomes passed away in 2011 at age 69. During his lifetime, he received over 40 honorary degrees. Professor Gomes was a registered Republican for most of his life and offered prayer at the inaugurations of Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. However, in August of 2006, he changed his registration to the Democratic Party. His book is titled "The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

British historian Alexandra Churchill is no relation to the former prime minister. However, her new book is the history of the world at war in 1914, titled "Ring of Fire." Alex Churchill is quick to tell you she is not an academic but has a research master's degree in the Battle of the Somme. She's a self-starter who writes three times a week for Substack, co-hosts a podcast titled "History Hack," appears in many documentaries, and is a participant in a history touring company in Great Britain. Her book is the story of ordinary people, she says, not those stalking the corridors of power.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices