Wednesday, May 30, 2012, 7:30 pm: In Association with RAND Corporation, Seth Jones and NPR’s Mike Shuster on The Pursuit of Al Qa’ida Since 9/11

The difference between fictional thrillers and Seth Jones’ new book, Hunting in the Shadows: The Pursuit of Al Qa’ida Since 9/11, is that Seth Jones’ thriller is nonfiction. For lovers of the spy thriller genre, or the newer fictional genre pertaining to global terrorism, you’ll wonder when the next fictional thriller bestseller will credit Seth Jones’ terrific new study. Seth Jones may not be a bestselling thriller writer just yet, but he produces heart-stopping nonfiction literature.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012, 7:30 pm: Man Up, Joel Stein and Rob Huebel: A Stupid Quest for Masculinity

Time magazine isn’t supposed to be funny. Nor is it supposed to be provocative and politically incorrect. But thanks to Joel Stein, it is all that. Joel’s Time pieces cover issues of the moment that we’ve absorbed and internalized– and he takes those issues, holds them up to us, and has at it.

The Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St. Aubyn: An Appreciation

Once in a while, a book, or an author, finds its way into your hands and you’re forced to halt in your tracks.  You can do nothing except focus on the urgent matter at hand, which is to remain motionless until you’ve finished the whole glorious thing, however long it takes.  The Patrick Melrose Novels is a series of five sequential books about the turbulent and dysfunctional life of Patrick Melrose, written by British author Edward St. Aubyn.  The first four books are now available…

Tuesday, May 15, 2012, 7:30 pm: Erik Larson with David Kipen

Erik Larson’s books, which include Devil In The White City, and In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin, take a moment in our American experience and turn that moment into the most riveting and thrilling story imaginable. Each of his books reads like a thriller, set against a grand tableau, where we get to know the players intimately. And sometimes it’s a challenge to remember that Erik Larson’s books are nonfiction– because truth is always so much stranger than anything we could make up.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012, 7:30 pm: Buddy Elias, Anne Frank’s first cousin, with Jonathan Kirsch on new Frank family documents

The Diary of Anne Frank has given insight to three generations around the world, to tens of millions of readers, about what people in hiding go through, the fear and frustration they suffer, the hunger for the outside world, the extent to which virtual prisoners will go to survive. That Anne Frank was just a child when she wrote it contributes to its profound nature; her entries about her adolescent ups and downs and her magnificent optimism make her diary one of the most valuable,…