A Novel About the Vanderbilts, An Investigation into Gun Culture

Therese Anne Fowler joins us to discuss her new novel, A Well-Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbilts, which tells the story of Alva Smith Vanderbilt Belmont, a woman who defied convention, asserted power within her marriage to William K. Vanderbilt and became a leader in the women's suffrage movement.

RJ Young (at 16:00) joins us to discuss Let It Bang: A Young Black Man’s Reluctant Odyssey into Guns. Based on his own life, the book traces how Young came to be an NRA-certified pistol instructor. Initially, the most that Young knew about guns was that they could get him killed. Until, recently married to a white woman and in need of a way to relate to his gun-loving father-in-law, Young does the unimaginable: he accepts a gift of a Glock. Despite, or because of, the racial rage and fear he experiences among white gun owners, Young becomes determined to get good at handling a gun. This is the compelling story of the author’s unexpected obsession and of his deep dive into the heart of America's gun culture.