Host Diana Korte speaks with military historian Phillips Payson O’Brien, author of 5 books, whose newest title is “WAR AND POWER. Who Wins Wars And Why.”

He is an American professor of strategic studies at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and known for his work on 20th and 21st-century conflict, war, and politics.

His groundbreaking book reveals that military might alone is an incomplete and often misleading measure of power. Instead, he argues that victory in war is rooted in a far broader spectrum of forces: economic strength, technological innovation, political leadership, societal resilience, and alliance-building.

Phillips’s Newsletter,” his popular Substack, has frequent updates about the war in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, don’t forget to follow Booktalk so you never miss an episode.

This is Diana Korte with Booktalk. My guest today is true-crime reporter Skip Hollandsworth⁠⁠, author of 2 books. His newest is SHE KILLS: The Murderous Socialite, the Cross-Dressing Bank Robber, and Other True Crime Tales.”

This book focuses on female perpetrators—from the high schooler who was so desperate to move back in with Mom that she had no choice but to poison her father’s refried beans, to the wallflower nurse in small-town Texas who one day started killing off her patients, to the lovelorn dental hygienist who ordered a hit on her rival.

Each of the eight stories is updated and provides background on Hollandsworth’s original storytelling and new information on the perpetrators and victims.

He joined the much awarded and popular Texas Monthly magazine over 30 years ago and wrote about Texas true crimes before such reporting became popular.

Meanwhile, don’t forget to follow Booktalk so you never miss an episode.

Host Diana Korte speaks with Priyanka Kumar, author of 3 books, whose newest title is “The Light Between Apple Trees: Rediscovering the Wild Through a Beloved American Fruit.”

As a child in the foothills of the Himalayas, Priyanka Kumar was entranced by forest-like orchards of diverse and luscious fruit—especially apples. These biodiverse orchards seemed worlds away from the cardboard apples that lined supermarket shelves in the United States.

Yet on a small patch of woods near her home in Santa Fe, NM Kumar discovered a wild apple tree—and the seeds of an odyssey were planted. Could the taste of a feral apple offer a doorway to the wild?

Kumar is a prize winning filmmaker (“The Song of the Little Road”), novelist (“Take Wing and Fly Here”), environmental author (“Conversations With Birds”), and acclaimed naturalist.

Host Diana Korte speaks with Jade Chang, author of 2 books, whose newest title is WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE about an accidental self-help guru.

This book blends humor with an exploration of what it means to be living in our current moment, and for many of us, constantly consuming and being consumed by stories on social media.

Eventually, Lola Treasure Gold, the book's heroine, also takes a hard look at what actually is meaningful in life, just as she’s finally beginning to reckon with her complicated past.

In her 8th book, ⁠⁠"REPLACEABLE YOU. Adventures in Human Anatomy"⁠, science writer Mary Roach dives in with her characteristic verve and infectious wit.

Her travels take her to the OR at a legendary burn unit in Boston, a “superclean” xeno-pigsty in China, and a stem cell “hair nursery” in a San Diego tech hub.

The body is the most complex machine in the world, and the only one for which you cannot get a replacement part from the manufacturer.

For centuries, medicine has reached for what’s available—sculpting noses from brass or making breasts from petroleum by-products.

Today scientists are attempting to grow body parts from scratch using stem cells and 3D printers.

Host Diana Korte speaks with Artis Henderson whose newest title, “NO ORDINARY BIRD. Drug Smuggling, a Plane Crash, and a Daughter's Quest for the Truth,” is a page-turning true crime book based on personal history, interviews with long-lost family members (and co-conspirators), along with government records.

They all illuminate the life of her experienced pilot dad, Lamar Chester, who died in his private plane that was very likely sabotaged—and what lead up to that event. The author who was 5 years old then was with him, but survived with injuries.

Her father had been one of the biggest marijuana smugglers in Miami in the 1970s. At the time of his death, he was about to testify in a US trial that had swept up politicians, a prime minister, and Colombian drug cartels. But the deeper Artis digs, the more unexpected the story becomes.

Host Diana Korte speaks with Bill McKibben, environmental activist and author of some 20 books. His newest title is “HERE COMES THE SUN. A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization.”

Largely unnoticed by many of us is the rapid rise of power from the sun around the world. The cost of alternative energy—sun & wind—has fallen below the price of fossil fuels.

Globally, every 18 hours, people install solar panels equivalent to a coal-fired power plant. This is faster than any energy transition in history & it may be the only remaining chance to slow down the rapid heating of the earth.

From war-torn Ukraine to Pakistan and Texas, listen in to hear about the people and places creating the world-wide revolution in sun power.

Georgia Hunter's first historical novel, “We Were the Lucky Ones” was born of her quest to uncover her family's staggering history.

The book’s chapters are written in the voices of her ancestors, most of whom were in Poland at the beginning of World War II when 3 generations still gathered at the dining room table. By the end of the war, they had scattered to five continents.

This book has been published in 20 languages and adapted into a critically acclaimed TV series. Georgia Hunter and I met for this conversation in 2018.

Her newest historical novel is "One Good Thing."