In this first episode, I read excerpts from the following texts:<ul><li> *A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare* by James Shapiro -- secretly setting-up The Globe</li><li>*The Wars of Reconstruction* by Douglas Egerton -- violent losers</li><li>*The Electric Life of Michael Faraday* by Alan Hirshfeld -- almost missing the transformer</li><li>*Nixonland* by Rick Perlstein -- multiple burglaries</li><li>*Why Poetry* by Matthew Zapruder -- taking your head off</li></ul>

Episode 2 -- Democracies failing, Ballpark, Douglass, Victoria, Moby

The world is full of great, contemporary nonfiction that non-academics rarely hear about. In this podcast, I read excerpts from contemporary nonfiction works in history, politics, art, literary analysis, theology, philosophy and more in the hope of teasing you into pursuing the whole book.