Historian David Kertzer says the Catholic Church lent strength and legitimacy to Mussolini's fascist regime. Kertzer recently won a Pulitzer Prize for his book. Originally broadcast Jan. 25, 2014.
Former Dublin newsman Paul Lynch's new novel follows an Irish farmer in 1945, struggling against adversity. Critic Alan Cheuse says Lynch's prose is so gorgeous, it makes him want to give up writing.
Andrea Mays' new book digs into the history of Washington, D.C.'s Folger Shakespeare Library, the legacy of oilman Henry Clay Folger — who, like William Shakespeare, found his greatest fame in death.
In Andrew Ervin's comic novel, a disillusioned advertising executive rents the cottage once inhabited by dystopian author George Orwell. Critic Maureen Corrigan says the funny book has a serious core.
Henry Folger once spent nearly a year's salary on a William Shakespeare first folio. In The Millionaire and the Bard, Andrea Mays chronicles his obsession with collecting the playwright's work.