Welcome to Reader’s Corner, a weekly radio show and podcast hosted by Boise State University president emeritus and former Illinois Lieutenant Governor Bob Kustra. Reader's Corner features lively conversations with leading writers, including Pulitzer, National Book Award, and Nobel Prize winners and many best-selling authors. Listen each week for thoughtful interviews about issues and ideas that matter.
About Bob Kustra and Boise State Public Radio
You can also listen to our shows with our free Reader's Corner app from the App Store or Google Play and at Readers Corner with Bob Kustra on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
We welcome feedback! Contact us here.
Boise State Public Radio and its associated programs do not pay guests, nor accept or demand payment for interview appearances or for being a source in our reporting or content. Furthermore, Boise State Public Radio and its associated programs do not pay, nor accept or demand payment for the submission of music or to feature music on our services.
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An Interview with renowned Taiwan expert and former intelligence officer J. Michael Cole. "The Taiwan Tinderbox: The Island-Nation at the Center of the New Cold War," is about how this Pacific nation has become a quagmire that risks igniting a full-scale global conflict. -
An interview with Journalist Christine Kuehn Family of Spies, the secret history of her paternal grandparents, Otto and Friedel. A prominent Berlin family, the Kuehn’s saw the rise of the Nazis as a way out of the hard times that had befallen them. When the daughter of the family met Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels. He sent the entire Kuehn family to Hawaii, to work as spies half a world away. -
Note: This is an encore edition of Reader’s Corner. The episode originally aired in June 2023.An interview with David Michaels, author of The Triumph of Doubt. In the book, Michaels details how corrupt science becomes public policy, through the aid of dark money, and where it's happening today. -
An interview with Beth Macy, author of the new book, Paper Girl. The book examines the forces eroding America’s social fabric, through the lens of changes that rocked her own beloved small Ohio hometown. -
An interview with Sasha Vasilyuk, author of the novel, Your Presence is Mandatory. Based on real events, the book follows a World War II veteran with a dangerous secret and his family, forced to confront the legacy of the man they thought they knew. -
Note: This is an encore edition of Reader’s Corner. The episode originally aired in May 2023. An interview with Martha C. Nussbaum, author of Justice for Animals. The book offers a revolutionary new theory and call to action on animal rights, ethics, and law. -
An interview with Kevin Hazzard, author of No One’s Coming. The book is a real-life thriller about the most daring rescue in air-medical history. -
An interview with Tim Wu, author of the new book, The Age of Extraction. The book explores the rise of tech platforms and details the risks and rewards of working within such systems. -
Note: This is an encore edition of Reader’s Corner. The episode originally aired in May 2023. An interview with Susan Elia MacNeal, author of the novel, Mother Daughter Traitor Spy. The book is inspired by a real-life mother and daughter to go undercover after stumbling upon a Nazi cell in Los Angeles during the early days of World War II. -
An interview with John U. Bacon, author of The Gales of November. The book gives the authoritative account of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, a disaster shrouded in mystery for the last half-century. Note: This is the second of a two-part interview.
