Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts

Original air date: May 4, 2012

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On Her Own Ground: The Life & Times of Madam C.J. Walker

Original air date: April 27, 2012

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Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout

Marie Curie was a polish physicist and chemist. She coined the term radioactivity, is considered the ‘Mother of Modern Chemistry’ and was honored with two Nobel prizes.

Her relationship with her husband Pierre was an infamous and romantic covalent bond.

Pierre Curie was a French physicist, a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism, radioactivity and a Nobel laureate.

He died too early.

Then Marie Curie discovered another electric love connection which reverberated Europe. He was married.

Curie was ostracized and turned lose like a free radical.

Her life of attachment and attractions is the subject of my guest’s biography.

The author, Lauren Redniss, is a graphic biographer and she designed every element of the book. Most of the art was created using a process called cyanotype printing which gives the drawings an ethereal glow. She also designed the spine, the typeface and the cover.

She teaches at Parsons The New School for Design in New York City and her writing and drawings for the New York Times were Pulitzer nominated. Radioactive was a finalist for the 2011 National Book Award.

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Bold Dragoon: The Life of J.E.B. Stuart

Original air date: April 6, 2012

Jeb Stuart’s mythology is colorful and humorous. He sat like a centaur atop his horse as cavalry commander. His reputation was enhanced by his appearance: good looking with a long dark beard, red-lined gray cape, yellow sash and a hat with an ostrich plume. He often wore cologne. Southern women loved him and he appeared to love the ladies.

But James Ewell Brown Stuart was deeply devoted and faithful to his wife Flora. He liked to throw big parties for his men during the war but never drank alcohol. In fact he swore to his mother that he would never drink . Even in his last moments–dying from a bullet wound–he refused the numbing drink.

Stuart was flawed, he consumed his fame and his fame consumed him. Today we’ll talk about Jeb Stuart, the leader of the Confederate cavalry but also Jeb Stuart… the man who was kind of a nut.

Emory Thomas was born in Richmond, Virginia. He has written eight books and was a Regent’s Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Georgia.  His biographies on Jeb Stuart and Robert E. Lee are considered the finest single volume books on the Confederate leaders.

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Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women

“Louisa May Alcott portrays a writer as worthy of interest in her own right as her most famous character, Jo March, and addresses all aspects of Alcott’s life: the effect of her father’s self-indulgent utopian schemes; her family’s chronic economic difficulties and frequent uprootings; her experience as a nurse in the Civil War; the loss of her health and frequent recourse to opiates in search of relief from migraines, insomnia, and symptomatic pain. Stories and details culled from Alcott’s journals; her equally rich letters to family, friends, publishers, and admiring readers; and the correspondence, journals, and recollections of her family, friends, and famous contemporaries provide the basis for this lively account of the author’s classic rags-to-riches tale.”

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