Just The Right Book With Roxanne Coady

In part two of Roxanne’s sit-down with James Forman Jr., the two dive further into James’ first book Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America. Forman tells us his first-hand story of the criminal justice system from his experience as a public defender and shares his incredulity over his results of Harvard’s Implicit Association Test in this season finale.

The Wall Street Journal says, “If we are going to have a national conversation about race in the United States, a book like [James Forman Jr.'s] Locking Up Our Own ought to set the tone." James and Roxanne explored the intricacies of political activism and discuss the current gun debate, the decriminalization of marijuana, James’ father, civil rights leader James Forman Sr. and his first book, Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America.

She flipped the notion of parenting on end with her last book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Now she takes her latest shot and claims the way we act is destroying the world. Her latest book, Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations offers a bold new remedy for reversing foreign policy failures and overcoming our own destructive political tribalism at home.

Our guest Yascha Mounk’s new book, "The People Vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom is in Danger and How to Save It" is “a provocative must read,” according to Roxanne. Roxanne and Yascha will explore how we got to where we are and what we can do about it. Yascha, the Executive Director at the Tony Blair Institute, lectures at Harvard and write The Good Fight column at Slate as well as hosts a podcast by the same name. This is an important show you won’t want to miss.

Julia Samuel’s first book Grief Works: Stories of Life, Death, And Surviving is organized by the type of loss; losing a parent, losing a child, and confronting your own death. Is the way which someone grieves different by the loss or is it more defined by who they are? Samuel, a psychotherapist specializing in grief who spent the last 25 years working with bereaved families describes grief as a process that's unique to every person, but universal in the need to be experienced and discussed.

Roxanne recently sat down with author and friend Amy Bloom to talk about her new book White Houses, inspired by one of the most intimate relationships in history between Eleanor Roosevelt and journalist Lorena Hickok. Listen to Amy read an excerpt from her latest bio-fiction in this week's episode. Also, stay tuned for a sneak peek into our next episode featuring Julia Samuel where she discusses her latest book Grief Works: Stories of Life, Death, and Surviving. 

A.J. Jacobs, journalist and contributing writer for Esquire, shares how he chronicled his three-year journey to help build the biggest family tree in history in his latest book, "It's All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World's Family Tree." We also speak to Gael LeLamer, Book Buyer at Books & Books in Miami who shares what is on their front table and the books the changed her life.

In this episode, Bustle's Senior Books Editor Cristina Arreola talks to Roxanne about everything from BookCon to Broadway and their shared love of Cheryl Strayed. Also in this episode, we hear from author Amy Bloom who was at RJ Julia recently to launch her new book White Houses. The bio-fiction which USA Today called "irresistibly audacious" is inspired by one of the most intriguing relationships in history- between Eleanor Roosevelt and journalist Lorena Hickok.

A.J. Jacobs is an author, journalist, and contributing writer for Esquire. His latest book "It's All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World's Family Tree" chronicles Jacobs's three-year journey to help build the biggest family tree in history. In this week’s Bookmarks, we give you a special look inside the book with an excerpt read by A.J. Jacobs himself. Later this week, you can hear author Amy Bloom talk about her latest book "White Houses." Stay tuned for a sneak peek in this week's Bookmark

On this week's episode we meet Daphne De Marneffe, the author of "The Rough Patch: Marriage and the Art of Living Together." She takes us through some of the major stressors of marriage like money and sex, and offers tips for couples who might be going through rough patches or want to avoid them. Also in this episode, we hear from the patrons of RJ Julia who share what's on their nightstand.

Nicole Lamy is a writer, book critic and literary matchmaker for The New York Times' Match Book column. Nicole joined Just the Right Book to talk book recommendations, the most outrageous letter that she has ever received, and the books that changed her life. And stay tuned after Roxanne’s conversation with Nicole to hear a recent live event with author Min Jin Lee who talks about her book “Pachinko”, her “hysterical shyness”, how she has read The Bible six times, and even the merits of kimchi.

Looking for a good book to curl up with this winter? We've got you covered! In this week's episode of Just the Right Book Podcast Roxanne is joined by Ellen Gamerman, the Arts and Culture reporter for the Wall Street Journal. Also in this episode, Roxanne speaks to author, journalist and Rolling Stone contributor Jeff Goodell about his latest book, "The Water Will Come." The book details how oceanside places are becoming more and more vulnerable to rising seas due to global warming and climate change.

In Einstein and the Rabbi: Searching for the Soul, Rabbi Naomi Levy dives into the mystery of what prompted one of the greatest scientific minds in history to write so eloquently about the human condition and what it says about our own interconnectedness. Rabbi Levy joined Just the Right Book Podcast to take us on this journey of discovering other dimensions of Einstein and the backstory of this grieving father. Also in this episode, we hear what some of the folks in New Haven are reading. 

Dr. Beverly Tatum's 1997 book on race relations, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria has become a modern classic found in many classrooms. In this week's episode of Just the Right Book Podcast, the former Spelman College president joins Roxanne for a live event at Wesleyan RJ Julia to talk about the 20th anniversary edition of her time-honored book and how race relations has evolved in the past two decades.

llende, who’s novels include “The House of the Spirits” and “City of the Beasts,” joined our Roxanne Coady at a live event hosted by RJ Julia to chat about her latest work, "In the Midst of Winter." And in case you missed it, Roxanne gives you the titles of the 2017 National Book Award winners! 

In this week's episode of Just the Right Book Podcast, Mad Men creator, Matthew Weiner joins Roxanne in New York City to dish on his debut book, Heather The Totality. The 138 page work which Weiner refers to as "novel concentrate" explores the intertwining lives of a privileged Manhattan couple, their beautiful daughter Heather and a sociopathic stalker. The screenwriter-turned-author also talks about his upcoming TV series The Romanoffs and the books that have changed his life.  

The heroic story of Suzanne Spaak who risked everything and gave her life to save hundreds of Jewish children from deportation in Nazi-occupied Paris to Auschwitz is one of many untold stories of the Holocaust. Just the Right Book welcomes author Anne Nelson who tells Spaak's story in her latest book, Suzanne's Children: A Daring Rescue in Nazi Paris. Also in this episode, some fantastic book recommendations from co-founder and president of The Book Report Network, Carol Fitzgerald.

Why do certain moments influence us so strongly? In this week's episode of Just the Right Book Podcast, we speak to Dan Heath, one half of the dynamic writing team which includes his brother Chip Heath. Dan explains how their latest book, The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact is about defining the moments that bring special meaning to our lives and the importance of creating them.

In today's Tidbits episode, we hear Claire Messud read a passage from her latest book, The Burning Girl. Roxanne describes the novel as "a fascinating look at friendships between young girls and how they arc over time." Also in today's Tidbits, we give you a sneak peek at next week's interview with novelist Dan Heath, who spoke to Roxanne about his new book, The Power of Moments. Listen to the full interview with Claire Messud here

You may know Cheryl Strayed from her #1 New York Times bestselling memoir Wild, which inspired the blockbuster film starring Reese Witherspoon or from one of her other bestsellers, Tiny Beautiful Things or Brave Enough. The Portland resident, who's popular advice column Dear Sugar inspired the podcast Dear Sugars is also the co-author of The Sweet Spot advice column in the New York Times Thursday Styles section.