Media interviews are a popular way for writers to introduce new books they hope will catch the viewer's eye and generate interest in their work. Here's a selection of forthcoming Kindle books by authors scheduled for interviews on TV and radio programs. Books are arranged in chronological order by the date of the scheduled interview.
On NBC's Today Show (Apr 24) and on NPR's Diane Rehm Show (Apr 26):
Prague Winter, by Madeleine Albright. Harper Collins, 2012. Print Length: 480 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (16 reviews). Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Before Madeleine Albright turned twelve, her life was shaken by the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia - the country where she was born - the Battle of Britain, the near total destruction of European Jewry, the Allied victory in World War II, the rise of communism, and the onset of the Cold War. Albright's experiences, and those of her family, provide a lens through which to view the most tumultuous dozen years in modern history. Drawing on her memory, her parents' written reflections, interviews with contemporaries, and newly available documents, Albright recounts a tale that is by turns harrowing and inspiring.
Prague Winter is an exploration of the past with timeless dilemmas in mind and, simultaneously, a journey with universal lessons that is intensely personal." - Publisher.
On NPR's Fresh Air (Apr 26):
Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash, by Edward Humes. Avery, 2012. Print Length: 279 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (4 reviews). Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"Take a journey inside the secret world of our biggest export, our most prodigious product, and our greatest legacy: our trash. It’s the biggest thing we make: The average American is on track to produce a whopping 102 tons of garbage across a lifetime, $50 billion in squandered riches rolled to the curb each year, more than that produced by any other people in the world. But that trash doesn’t just magically disappear; our bins are merely the starting point for a strange, impressive, mysterious, and costly journey that may also represent the greatest untapped opportunity of the century. In
Garbology, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Edward Humes investigates the trail of that 102 tons of trash - what’s in it; how much we pay for it; how we manage to create so much of it; and how some families, communities, and even nations are finding a way back from waste to discover a new kind of prosperity. Along the way , he introduces a collection of garbage denizens unlike anyone you’ve ever met: the trash-tracking detectives of MIT, the bulldozer-driving sanitation workers building Los Angeles’ immense Garbage Mountain landfill, the artists in residence at San Francisco’s dump, and the family whose annual trash output fills not a dumpster or a trash can, but a single mason jar." - Publisher.
On PBS's Charlie Rose (May 1) and on Comedy Central's Daily Show (May 2):
The Debt Bomb: A Bold Plan to Stop Washington from Bankrupting America, by Tom A. Coburn. Thomas Nelson, 2012. Print Length: 368 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (6 reviews). Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"In a nation whose debt has outgrown the size of its entire economy, the greatest threat comes not from any foreign force but from Washington politicians who refuse to relinquish the intoxicating power to borrow and spend. Senator Tom Coburn reveals the fascinating, maddening story of how we got to this point of fiscal crisis - and how we can escape. Long before America's recent economic downturn, beltway politicians knew the U.S. was going bankrupt. Yet even after several so-called "change" elections, the government has continued its wasteful ways in the face of imminent danger. With passion and clarity, Coburn explains why Washington resists change so fiercely and offers controversial yet commonsense solutions to secure the nation's future." - Publisher.
On MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show (May 1) and on Comedy Central's Colbert Report (May 7):
End This Depression Now!, by Paul Krugman. W. W. Norton & Company, 2012. Print Length: 272 p. Amazon customer rating: 3 1/2 stars (10 reviews). Text-to-Speech: Enabled.
"The Great Recession is more than four years old - and counting. Yet, as Paul Krugman points out in this powerful volley, 'Nations rich in resources, talent, and knowledge - all the ingredients for prosperity and a decent standard of living for all - remain in a state of intense pain.' How bad have things gotten? How did we get stuck in what now can only be called a depression? And above all, how do we free ourselves? Krugman pursues these questions with his characteristic lucidity and insight. He has a powerful message for anyone who has suffered over these past four years - a quick, strong recovery is just one step away, if our leaders can find the 'intellectual clarity and political will' to end this depression now." - Publisher.
On NPR's Diane Rehm Show (May 1):
American Canopy, by Eric Rutkow. Scribner, 2012. Print Length: 416 p. Amazon customer rating: None yet. Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"Like many of us, historians have long been guilty of taking trees for granted. Yet the history of trees in America is no less remarkable than the history of the United States itself - from the majestic white pines of New England, which were coveted by the British Crown for use as masts in navy warships, to the orange groves of California, which lured settlers west. In fact, without the country’s vast forests and the hundreds of tree species they contained, there would have been no ships, docks, railroads, stockyards, wagons, barrels, furniture, newspapers, rifles, or firewood. No shingled villages or whaling vessels in New England. No New York City, Miami, or Chicago. No Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyan, or Daniel Boone. No Allied planes in World War I, and no suburban sprawl in the middle of the twentieth century. America - if indeed it existed - would be a very different place without its millions of acres of trees. Never before has anyone treated our country’s trees and forests as the subject of a broad historical study, and the result is an accessible, informative, and thoroughly entertaining read. Audacious in its four-hundred-year scope, authoritative in its detail, and elegant in its execution,
American Canopy is perfect for history buffs and nature lovers alike..." - Publisher.
On C-SPAN2's BOOKTV (May 5):
Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics, by Ross Douthat. Free Press, 2012. Print Length: 352 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (20 reviews). Text-to-Speech: Disabled.
"As the youngest-ever op-ed columnist for the New York Times, Ross Douthat has emerged as one of the most provocative and influential voices of his generation. In
Bad Religion he offers a masterful and hard-hitting account of how American Christianity has gone off the rails - and why it threatens to take American society with it. Writing for an era dominated by recession, gridlock, and fears of American decline, Douthat exposes the spiritual roots of the nation’s political and economic crises. He argues that America’s problem isn’t too much religion, as a growing chorus of atheists have argued; nor is it an intolerant secularism, as many on the Christian right believe. Rather, it’s bad religion: the slow-motion collapse of traditional faith and the rise of a variety of pseudo-Christianities that stroke our egos, indulge our follies, and encourage our worst impulses." - Publisher.
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