Book Club with Michael Smerconish

Reading for Independent Minds. Unlike many author interviews, if Michael didn't actually read the book, you won't hear about it. If he read it, you'll hear it and you'll love it. Insights into a wide range of topics, including many titles you've probably never heard of. The perfect book is just one listen away.

Episodes

William McRaven: "Conquering Crisis"

April 30, 2025 • 23 mins

Michael welcomes Admiral William McRaven with his book "Conquering Crisis: Ten Lessons to Learn Before You Need Them." The retired Naval officer and bestselling author tells stories from his life and career that illustrate the principles of effective leadership during times of crisis. Throughout his 40-year career, Admiral McRaven has experienced every manner of calamity imaginable. From managing failed hostage rescues to respondin...

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John Mearsheimer: "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy"

April 28, 2025 • 18 mins

From September 2007, Michael's conversation with John Mearsheimer, co-author of "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy." "The Israel Lobby," by John J. Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen M. Walt of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, was one of the most controversial articles in recent memory. Originally published in the London Review of Books in March 2006, it provoked both howls of outrage and che...

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Jeffrey Selingo: "Who Gets In and Why"

April 23, 2025 • 15 mins

Michael speaks with Jeffrey Selingo, author of "Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions." The award-winning higher education journalist and New York Times bestselling author's book offers a revealing look from inside the admissions office—one that identifies surprising strategies that will aid in the college search. Getting into a top-ranked college has never seemed more impossible, with acceptance rates at some elite...

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John Kasich: "Heaven Help Us"

April 18, 2025 • 20 mins

Michael welcomes former Ohio Governor John Kasich, author of "Heaven Help Us: How Faith Communities Inspire Hope, Strengthen Neighborhoods, and Build the Future". In a time of division and cynicism, Kasich shares uplifting stories of faith communities making real change—from churches supporting immigrants to mosques building interfaith bridges. It's a powerful reminder of the hope and strength found in local action and belief. Orig...

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Ben Sherwood: "The Survivors Club"

April 14, 2025 • 18 mins

Ben Sherwood's "The Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life" was so fascinating to Michael that he had him back on for this interview, 11 years after the book was written. Each second of the day, someone in America faces a crisis, whether it's a car accident, violent crime, serious illness, or financial trouble. Given the inevitability of adversity, we all wonder: Who beats the odds and who surrenders? Why...

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Tom Garvey: "The Secret Apartment"

April 9, 2025 • 19 mins

Let’s begin an implausible story with a seemingly simple yet complex question: If you were single, never married with no children or dependents, would you, if you had the opportunity, have lived “on the down low” in a secret apartment in Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia? Tom Garvey did just that - yes he LIVED there - and tells the tale in this incredible story. Original air date 19 March 2021. The book was published on 3 December ...

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Jonathan Allen & Amie Parnes: "Fight"

April 7, 2025 • 29 mins

Michael talks to Amie Parnes & Jonathan Allen about "Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House." The authors of the #1 New York Times bestseller 'Shattered' provide a revelatory, inside look at the Biden, Harris, and Trump camps during the 2024 battle for the White House, arguably the most consequential contest in American history. The ride was so wild that it forced a sitting president to drop his re-election bid, a on...

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25 Books That Have Moved Michael Smerconish

April 7, 2025 • 6 mins

Admiral James Stavridis appears on the Book Club Podcast four times. Listen to To Risk It All (Episode #116), 2054 (Episode #354), The Restless Wave (Episode #415), and The Admiral's Bookshelf (#446).

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Benjamin Wallace: "The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto"

April 2, 2025 • 24 mins

Michael interviews New York Times bestselling author Benjamin Wallace about his new book, "The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto: A Fifteen-Year Quest to Unmask the Secret Genius Behind Crypto." Wallace delves into the enigma of Satoshi Nakamoto, the elusive creator of Bitcoin, whose identity remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of our time. Wallace traces his investigation across the globe, exploring a variety of suspects and the ...

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Michael Wolff: "All Or Nothing"

March 31, 2025 • 27 mins

Michael welcomes New York Times Bestselling author Michael Wolff with his book "All or Nothing: How Trump Recaptured America." In it, Wolff delivers a breathtaking insider account of the 2024 Trump campaign—undoubtedly the wildest, most unpredictable campaign in U.S. history, including multiple criminal trials, two assassination attempts, and a sudden switch of opponents. 'All or Nothing' takes readers on a journey accompanying Don...

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Laura Delano: "Unshrunk"

March 28, 2025 • 27 mins

Laura Delano is a writer, speaker, and consultant, and the founder of Inner Compass Initiative, a nonprofit organization that helps people make more informed choices about psychiatric diagnoses, drugs, and drug withdrawal. She is a leading voice in the international movement of people who’ve left behind the medicalized, professionalized mental health industry to build something different. Laura works with individuals and families a...

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Admiral James Stavridis: "The Admiral's Bookshelf"

March 26, 2025 • 30 mins

Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret.), a leader in international business, national security, and global philanthropy, shares the books that facilitated his success. A guide to living and leading through reading, The Admiral’s Bookshelf links twenty-five essential life lessons and leadership principles to the books that best illustrate them. After speaking with him, Michael is then inspired to reveal his top 25 books as well - listen...

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Alex Isenstadt: "Revenge"

March 24, 2025 • 15 mins

Alex Isenstadt is a Senior Political Reporter at Axios. Previously, he was National Political reporter at Politico, where he covered Donald Trump since 2015.

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Jefferson Fisher: "The Next Conversation"

March 19, 2025 • 23 mins

Michael talks to trial lawyer and communication expert Jefferson Fisher about his fascinating new book, "The Next Conversation: Argue Less, Talk More." Its ties to the themes of Michael's work with The Mingle Project are intriguing. Listen to this conversation about the definitive book that will make your next conversation the one that changes everything. No matter who you’re talking to, "The Next Conversation" gives you immediatel...

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Wendy Ruderman & Barbara Laker: "Busted"

March 17, 2025 • 29 mins

"Busted: A Tale of Corruption and Betrayal in the City of Brotherly Love" is the shocking true story of the biggest police corruption scandal in Philadelphia history, a tale of drugs, power, and abuse involving a rogue narcotics squad, a confidential informant, and two veteran journalists whose reporting drove a full-scale FBI probe, rocked the City of Brotherly Love, and earned a Pulitzer Prize. Listen to Michael's conversation wi...

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Mark Bowden: "Black Hawk Down"

March 14, 2025 • 36 mins

On October 3, 1993, about a hundred elite U.S. soldiers were dropped by helicopter into the teeming market in the heart of Mogadishu, Somalia. Their mission was to abduct two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord and return to base. It was supposed to take an hour. Instead, they found themselves pinned down through a long and terrible night fighting against thousands of heavily-armed Somalis. The following morning, eighteen Americans...

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Alexander Vindman: "The Folly of Realism"

March 7, 2025 • 24 mins

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, six US presidential administrations of both parties pursued policies for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia that emboldened Russia, playing into its imperialist, centuries-long mythos of regional hegemony. The result: military aggression and full-scale invasion. It was all too foreseeable.

In The Folly of Realism, leading national security expert and bestselling author Alexander Vindman argues that ...

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Vivek Wadhwa: "Your Happiness Was Hacked"

March 3, 2025 • 14 mins

Technology: your master, or your friend? Do you feel ruled by your smartphone and enslaved by your email or social-network activities? Digital technology is making us miserable, say bestselling authors and former tech executives Vivek Wadhwa and Alex Salkever. We’ve become a tribe of tech addicts—and it’s not entirely our fault. Michael talks with Vivek Wadhwa, co-author of "Your Happiness Was Hacked: Why Tech Is Winning the Battle...

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Sherrod Brown: "Desk 88"

February 12, 2025 • 16 mins

Since his election to the U.S. Senate in 2006, Ohio’s Sherrod Brown has sat on the Senate floor at a mahogany desk with a proud history. In "Desk 88: Eight Progressive Senators Who Changed America", he tells the story of eight of the Senators who were there before him. Listen to his conversation with Michael from 26 November 2019. The book was published on 5 November 2019.

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Yoni Appelbaum: "Stuck"

February 11, 2025 • 23 mins

Yoni Appelbaum is a deputy executive editor of The Atlantic and a social and cultural historian of the United States. Before joining The Atlantic, he was a lecturer on history and literature at Harvard University. He previously taught at Babson College and at Brandeis University, where he received his PhD in American history.

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Book Club with Michael Smerconish

Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}William McRaven: "Conquering Crisis"

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}John Mearsheimer: "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy"

Jeffrey Selingo: "Who Gets In and Why"

John Kasich: "Heaven Help Us"

Ben Sherwood: "The Survivors Club"

Tom Garvey: "The Secret Apartment"

Jonathan Allen & Amie Parnes: "Fight"

25 Books That Have Moved Michael Smerconish

Benjamin Wallace: "The Mysterious Mr. Nakamoto"

Michael Wolff: "All Or Nothing"

Laura Delano: "Unshrunk"

Admiral James Stavridis: "The Admiral's Bookshelf"

Alex Isenstadt: "Revenge"

Jefferson Fisher: "The Next Conversation"

Wendy Ruderman & Barbara Laker: "Busted"

Mark Bowden: "Black Hawk Down"

Alexander Vindman: "The Folly of Realism"

Vivek Wadhwa: "Your Happiness Was Hacked"

Sherrod Brown: "Desk 88"

Yoni Appelbaum: "Stuck"

Popular Podcasts

William McRaven: "Conquering Crisis"

John Mearsheimer: "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy"