So one more for the year. First, my sincerest thanks to Olivia Witherite, our videographer and digital editor, and Pete Kerzel, our content editor. They are the best. Their earnest interest in Hitting ...

Can we even begin to understand what people went through in the Great Depression, World War I, World War II or the Dust Bowl? Are we so concentrated on the now that we fail to see how the "then" ...

From time to time, in my library roaming, I like to pick a book off the shelves that I know nothing about. I read the front and back leaf, and if it strikes me as a book of potential interest, out of ...

George Mitchell should have been president. He was a U.S. Senator, the Senate majority leader, a Federal District Court judge, the lead negotiator in the Northern Ireland peace accord, the special ...

There are books in the upper echelon of make-you-think works. B.F. Skinner's controversial (to this day) book on human behavior, "Beyond Freedom and Dignity," is high on that list. Skinner was a ...

Dewayne Staats is the TV voice of the Rays. He has done play by play for the Astros, Cubs and Yankees in a career of some 40 years. A smile, a kind word and professionalism are always there. We have ...

One of the great treats in doing the Hitting the Books blog this season has been the chance to discuss books with my broadcast cohorts. This week I sat down with Dick Bremer, the voice of the ...

For decades, The New Yorker magazine was the elite repository of literary expression. The best of writers longed to have their talents recognized there. James Thurber was not only recognized there, he ...

Doris Kearns Goodwin. This historian/writer loves history and she loves baseball. If there is such a thing as a sweet read, this is it. Goodwin departs from her award-winning series of historical ...

John Faragher is a noted historian, particularly regarding the American west. His biography of Daniel Boone is considered a seminal work. "Eternity Street: Violence and Justice in Frontier Los Angeles ...