Read Beat (...and repeat)

By Steve Tarter

Listen to a podcast, please open Podcast Republic app. Available on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

Image by Steve Tarter

Category: History

Open in Apple Podcasts


Open RSS feed


Open Website


Rate for this podcast

Subscribers: 0
Reviews: 0
Episodes: 271

Description

If you're like me, you like to know things but how much time to invest? That's the question. Here's the answer: Read Beat--Interviews with authors of new releases. These aren't book reviews but short (about 25-30 minutes on the average) chats with folks that usually have taken a lot of time to research a topic, enough to write a book about it. Hopefully, there's a topic or two that interests you. I try to come up with subjects that fascinate me or I need to know more about. Hopefully, listeners will agree. I'm Steve Tarter, former reporter for the Peoria Journal Star and a contributor to WCBU-FM, the Peoria public radio outlet, from 20202 to 2024. I post regularly on stevetarter.substack.com. 


Episode Date
"Heartland" by Keith O'Brien
May 11, 2026
“The Navigator’s Letter” by Jan Cress Dondi
May 10, 2026
"Tigers Between Empires" by Jonathan Slaght
May 01, 2026
"Boss Lincoln" by Matthew Pinsker
Apr 30, 2026
“Ms. Mebel Goes Back to the Chopping Block” by Jesse Sutanto
Apr 22, 2026
“The 100 Greatest Literary Characters” by James Plath, Gail Sinclair, and Kirk Curnutt
Apr 10, 2026
“Last of the Titans” by Richard Vinen
Apr 03, 2026
"CrimeReads" articles by Keith Roysdon
Mar 27, 2026
"Making Democracy Count" by Ismar Volic
Mar 19, 2026
“Winning the Earthquake” by Lorissa Rinehart
Mar 17, 2026
"Show Trial" by Thomas Doherty
Mar 07, 2026
"Road to Nowhere" by Emily Lieb
Mar 02, 2026
"Vote with Your Phone" by Bradley Tusk
Feb 28, 2026
"Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling" by Danny Funt
Feb 13, 2026
"Radical Cartography: How Changing Our Maps Can Change Our World" by William Rankin
Feb 11, 2026
"The Heartland: An American History" by Kristin Hoganson
Feb 08, 2026
"Artificially Intelligent" by David Eliot
Feb 02, 2026
"Troublemaker" by Carla Kaplan
Feb 02, 2026
"The Intelligence Explosion" by James Barrat
Jan 22, 2026
“The Hard Line” by Mark Greaney
Jan 22, 2026
“The Killing Age” by Clifton Crais
Jan 21, 2026
“The First Movie Studio in Texas” by Kathryn Fuller-Seeley and Frank Thompson
Jan 14, 2026
“When We Were Brilliant” by Lynn Cullen
Jan 08, 2026
"Retaining and Transitioning Businesses in Communities" by Norm Walzer and Christopher Merrett
Jan 04, 2026
"Marutas of Unit 731" by Jenny Chan
Dec 16, 2025
"Rewiring Democracy" by Bruce Schneier and Nathan Sanders
Dec 16, 2025
"American Oasis" by Kyle Paoletta
Dec 10, 2025
"Crossings--How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet" by Ben Goldfarb
Dec 09, 2025
"The Accord" by Mark Peres
Nov 29, 2025
In the Japanese Ballpark by Robert Fitts
Nov 28, 2025
"That October" by Keith Roysdon
Nov 21, 2025
"Small Farms Are Real Farms" by John Ikerd
Nov 20, 2025
"When Can We Go Back to America?" by Susan Kamei
Nov 10, 2025
"Hollywood's Spies" by Laura Rosenzweig
Nov 09, 2025
"Your Money" by Carl Richards
Nov 06, 2025
"American Scary" by Jeremy Dauber
Nov 05, 2025
"They're Playing Our Song" by Bruce Pollock
Oct 17, 2025
"We'll Prescribe You Another Cat" by Syou Ishida
Oct 16, 2025
"The Martians" by David Baron
Oct 16, 2025
"Moses Jacob Ezekiel: Jewish, Confederate, Expatriate Sculptor" by Samantha Baskind
Oct 06, 2025
"Saving Ourselves from Big Car" by David Obst
Oct 05, 2025
"Launching Liberty" by Doug Most
Sep 18, 2025
"Wisdom of the Marsh" by Clare Howard (Photographs by David Zalaznik)
Sep 14, 2025
"Hollywood and Hitler: 1933-1939" by Thomas Doherty
Sep 01, 2025
"Strangers and Intimates: The Rise and Fall of Private Life"
Aug 28, 2025
"Eating Up Route 66" by T. Lindsay Baker
Aug 22, 2025
"The Devil Reached Toward the Sky" by Garrett Graff
Aug 18, 2025
"America America" by Greg Grandin
Aug 14, 2025
"The World's Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant" by Liza Tully
Jul 26, 2025
"Nightmare in the Pacific" by Michael Doyle
Jul 22, 2025
"The Age of Choice" by Sophia Rosenfeld
Jul 15, 2025
"Fallen Tigers" by Daniel Jackson
Jul 05, 2025
"Play This Book Loud" by Joe Bonomo
Jun 20, 2025
"Death of the Daily News" by Andrew Conte
Jun 15, 2025
"The Portable Ingersoll" by Tom Malone
May 30, 2025
"Red Scare" by Clay Risen
May 28, 2025
“Building Bridges” by Douglas Bristol Jr.
May 25, 2025
"To Die With Such Men" by Shannon Monaghan
May 09, 2025
"Pacific Atrocities Education" by Jenny Chan
Apr 30, 2025
"Welcome to Florida" by Craig Pittman
Apr 25, 2025
"Southern News, Southern Politics" by Rob Christensen
Apr 25, 2025
"Baseball's First Superstar" by Alan Gaff
Apr 17, 2025
"Mrs. Cook & the Klan" by Tom Chorneau
Apr 14, 2025
"Rebranding the Western: A History of Comics and the Mythic West" by William Grady
Mar 21, 2025
Pink Cars & Pocketbooks: How American Women Bought Their Way into the Driver's Seat" by Jessica Brockmole
Mar 20, 2025
"Maya Wisdom and the Survival of Our Planet" by Lisa Lucero
Mar 14, 2025
"What's Up With Women and Money?" by Alison Kosik
Mar 07, 2025
"One Death at a Time" by Abbi Waxman
Mar 07, 2025
"Becoming Madam Secretary" by Stephanie Dray
Mar 05, 2025
"Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)" by Jesse Sutanto
Mar 05, 2025
"Maya Blue: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Ancient Pigment" by Dean Arnold
Mar 01, 2025
"Unveiling the Color Line" by Lisa McLeod
Feb 27, 2025
"Ida Lupino: Forgotten Auteur" by Alexandra Seros
Feb 27, 2025
"Et Cetera: An Illustrated Guide to Latin Phrases" by Maia Lee-Chin
Feb 14, 2025
"Midnight Black" by Mark Greaney
Feb 11, 2025
"Spiderweb Capitalism: How Global Elites Exploit Frontier Markets" by Kimberly Kay Hoang
Jan 18, 2025
“The Organization of Journalism” by Patrick Ferrucci
Jan 16, 2025
"What Works in Community News" by Dan Kennedy and Ellen Clegg
Dec 21, 2024
“Jeep Show: A Trouper at the Battle of the Bulge” by Robert B. O’Connor
Dec 19, 2024
"The Purpose Code" by Jordan Grumet MD
Dec 17, 2024
“The Uncomfortable Truth About Money” by Paul Podolsky
Nov 25, 2024
"Most Honorable Son" by Gregg Jones
Nov 22, 2024
"Carl Barks' Duck" by Peter Schilling Jr.
Nov 22, 2024
"Pickleballers" by Ilana Long
Nov 21, 2024
"Uncovering Dinosaur Behavior" by David Hone
Nov 06, 2024
"In the Shadow of the Big Top" by Maureen Brunsdale
Oct 27, 2024
"Onward to Chicago" by Larry M. McClellan
Oct 22, 2024
Petrochemical Fantasies: The Art and Fantasy of American Comics" by Daniel Worden
Oct 09, 2024
"The Golden Age of Red" by Doug Villhard
Oct 08, 2024
"Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman's Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue" by Sonia Purnell
Oct 05, 2024
"When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power of the Dawn of American Fashion" by Julie Satow
Sep 13, 2024
"Our Nation at Risk" edited by Julian Zelizer and Karen Greenberg
Sep 05, 2024
"A Quiet Company of Dangerous Men" by Shannon Monaghan
Sep 04, 2024
"Cow Hug Therapy" by Ellie Laks
Aug 30, 2024
Interview with illustrator Chris Sickles
Aug 23, 2024
"Season of Shattered Dreams" by Eric Vickrey
Aug 01, 2024
"The Editors" by Stephen Harrison
Jul 24, 2024
"A Mysterious Something in the Light: The Life of Raymond Chandler" by Tom Williams
Jul 23, 2024
"The President is a Sick Man" by Matthew Algeo
Jul 16, 2024
Discussion on the Golden Age of Radio by Eleanor Patterson
Jul 12, 2024
"Black Cyclists: The Race for Inclusion" by Robert Turpin
Jul 04, 2024
"Hammett in Hollywood" by Mark Dawidziak
Jul 04, 2024
"Sentinel" by Mark Greaney
Jun 27, 2024
"Native Nations" by Kathleen DuVal
Jun 20, 2024
"Bootlegging the Airwaves" by Eleanor Patterson
Jun 10, 2024
"All That Really Matters" by Dr. David Weill
Jun 09, 2024
"The Mind of a Bee" by Lars Chittka
May 24, 2024
"Westerns: A Women's History" by Victoria Lamont
May 23, 2024
"D-Day Girls" by Sarah Rose
May 09, 2024
"A Question of Value" by Robert Brunk
Apr 26, 2024
"Mike Donlin" by Steve Steinberg and Lyle Spatz
Apr 26, 2024
"Skies of Thunder" by Caroline Alexander
Apr 25, 2024
"Code to Joy" by Michael Littman
Apr 09, 2024
"The Octopus in the Parking Garage" by Rob Verchick
Apr 04, 2024
"Indian Burial Ground" by Nick Medina
Apr 03, 2024
"1898" Edited by Taina Caragol and Kate Clarke Lemay
Mar 13, 2024
"The Rural Voter" by Nicholas Jacobs and Daniel Shea
Mar 06, 2024
"Galloping Gourmet" by Steve Friesen
Feb 29, 2024
"Sleepless: Unleashing the Subversive Power of the Night Self" by Annabel Abbs-Streets
Feb 26, 2024
"The Mathematical Radio" by Paul Nahin
Feb 16, 2024
"The Chaos Agent" by Mark Greaney
Feb 16, 2024
"Living With Robots: What Every Anxious Human Needs to Know" by Ruth Aylett and Patricia Vargas
Feb 10, 2024
"Beaverland" by Leila Philip
Jan 27, 2024
“A City on Mars” by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith
Jan 26, 2024
"Godzilla" and "Godzilla Raids Again" by Shigeru Kayama and translated by Jeffrey Angles
Jan 19, 2024
"Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains" by Bethany Brookshire
Jan 11, 2024
"An American Banker in Paris" by William Engelbrecht and Karl Taylor
Jan 11, 2024
"Hedged: How Private Investment Funds Helped Destroy American Newspapers and Undermine Democracy"
Jan 05, 2024
Read Beat in review--excerpts from 2023
Jan 01, 2024
Interview with Samir "Mr. Magazine" Husni
Dec 23, 2023
"Selling Science Fiction Cinema" by J. P. Telotte
Dec 15, 2023
"The New Nancy" by Jeff Karnicky
Dec 14, 2023
“Driving the Green Book” by Alvin Hall (excerpt)
Dec 13, 2023
“Driving the Green Book” by Alvin Hall
Dec 12, 2023
“Look: How a Highly Influential Magazine Helped Define Mid-Twentieth Century America” by Andrew Yarrow
Dec 04, 2023
"Organic Rising" by Anthony Suau
Nov 26, 2023
"Branding Trust" by Jennifer Black
Nov 25, 2023
"Noir Bar" by Eddie Muller
Nov 03, 2023
"Valiant Women" by Lena Andrews
Nov 01, 2023
"Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature" by Dan Sinykin
Oct 31, 2023
"Picasso's Lovers" by Jeanne Mackin
Oct 28, 2023
"Betty Friedan: Magnificent Disrupter" by Rachel Shteir
Oct 27, 2023
"Will Rogers and His America" by Gary Clayton Anderson
Oct 27, 2023
"The Night Stalker Companion" by Mark Dawidziak
Oct 08, 2023
"The Injustice of Place" by Kathryn J. Edin, H. Luke Shaefer and Timothy J. Nelson
Sep 24, 2023
"The Things We Make" by Bill Hammack
Sep 17, 2023
"Beyond Piggly Wiggly" by Lisa Tolbert
Sep 17, 2023
"From Rails to Trails: The Making of America's Active Transportation Network" by Peter Harnik
Aug 30, 2023
"Baseball: The Turbulent Midcentury Years" by Steven Gietschier
Aug 26, 2023
"Agriculture in the Midwest 1815-1900" by R. Douglas Hurt
Jul 24, 2023
“The First Atomic Bomb—The Trinity Site in New Mexico” by Janet Farrell Brodie
Jul 18, 2023
"Back From the Collapse" by Curtis Freese
Jul 18, 2023
"Ballists, Dead Beats and Muffins" by Robert Sampson
Jul 03, 2023
"The First Ladies" by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
Jul 03, 2023
"Shadow of the New Deal: The Victory of Public Broadcasting" by Josh Shepperd
Jun 26, 2023
"A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe" by Mark Dawidziak
Jun 17, 2023
“Television Finales—‘Howdy Doody’ to ‘Girls’” by Doug Howard and David Bianculli
May 26, 2023
"The Influencer Industry" by Emily Hund
May 24, 2023
"The West: A New History in 14 Lives" by Naoise Mac Sweeney
May 22, 2023
“The First Taste of Freedom” by Robert Turpin
May 17, 2023
"The Future is Analog" by David Sax
May 15, 2023
"The Magazine Century" by David Sumner and Samir Husni
May 11, 2023
"The American Way" by Helene Stapinski and Bonnie Siegler
May 02, 2023
"1876: Year of the Gun" by Steve Wiegand
Apr 28, 2023
"Eight Bears" by Gloria Dickie
Apr 26, 2023
"Marking Modern Time" by Alexis McCrossen
Mar 28, 2023
"Untold Power" by Rebecca Roberts
Mar 26, 2023
“The Sunday Paper” by Paul Moore and Sandra Gabriele
Mar 18, 2023
"Made in Chicago" by Monica Eng and David Hammond
Feb 28, 2023
"Rural Areas in Transition" by Norm Walzer and Chris Merrett
Feb 24, 2023
“Stone Cold Fox” by Rachel Koller Croft
Feb 23, 2023
"Burner" by Mark Greaney
Feb 17, 2023
“Playground to the Pros” by Jeff Karzen
Feb 08, 2023
“The Great Air Race” by John Lancaster
Feb 01, 2023
Dissertation on the Hell Pig, Vol. 2 with Joe Sawchak
Jan 29, 2023
"Stress-Free Productivity" by Alice Boyes
Jan 29, 2023
"The Good Country" by Jon Lauck
Jan 27, 2023
A Dissertation on the Hell Pig with Scott Foss
Jan 24, 2023
"How to Calm Your Mind" by Chris Bailey
Jan 12, 2023
"The Ascent of Information" by Caleb Scharf
Jan 09, 2023
"Illinois Trails & Traces" by Gary Marx and Dan Overturf
Jan 04, 2023
"The Art of Insubordination" by Todd Kashdan
Dec 21, 2022
"Framers" by Kenneth Cukier, Viktor Mayer-Schonberger and Francis de Vericourt
Dec 17, 2022
"Why We Fight" by Christopher Blattman
Dec 13, 2022
"A Place to Belong" by Amber O'Neill Johnston
Dec 10, 2022
"30 Days of Creativity" by Johanna Basford
Dec 09, 2022
"Influence is Your Superpower" by Zoe Chance
Dec 07, 2022
"Unraveled" by Maxine Bedat
Dec 07, 2022
"The Last King of America" by Andrew Roberts
Nov 29, 2022
"I Didn't Do the Thing Today" by Madeleine Dore
Nov 29, 2022
"Kingdom of Characters" by Jing Tsu
Nov 29, 2022
"No Filter" by Paulina Porizkova
Nov 28, 2022
"Unremembered: Book 2" by Ken Zurski
Nov 28, 2022
"People Get Ready" by Bob McChesney and John Nichols
Nov 28, 2022
"Power Failure" by William Cohan
Nov 21, 2022
"Magic Days" by Nadine Jane
Nov 15, 2022
"Art is Life" by Jerry Saltz
Nov 09, 2022
“You Are More Than Magic” by Minda Harts
Nov 05, 2022
"It's Not TV" by Felix Gillette and John Koblin
Nov 04, 2022
"Indivisible: Daniel Webster and the Birth of American Nationalism"
Oct 24, 2022
"Half American" by Matthew Delmont
Oct 20, 2022
"The Great Experiment" by Yascha Mounk
Oct 19, 2022
"Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away" by Annie Duke
Oct 13, 2022
"I Alone Can Fix It" by Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker
Oct 07, 2022
"Never Pay the First Bill" by Marshall Allen
Oct 06, 2022
"The Life of Crime" by Martin Edwards
Oct 04, 2022
"Take the Game Back" by Linda Flanagan
Oct 02, 2022
"Social TV" by Cory Barker
Oct 01, 2022
"What Do You Say?: by William Stixrud and Ned Johnson
Sep 30, 2022
“Platonic” by Marisa Franco
Sep 30, 2022
"The Biggest Ideas in the Universe" by Sean Carroll
Sep 24, 2022
"The First Survivors of Alzheimer's" by Dr. Dale Bredesen
Sep 24, 2022
"A Time of Islands--Stories of the Pacific War Isles" by Greg Wahl
Sep 12, 2022
"Build" by Chris Sickels
Sep 11, 2022
"Be a Plant-Based Woman Warrior" by Ann and Jane Esselstyn
Sep 10, 2022
"Roller Derby" by Michella Marino
Sep 08, 2022
"Streamliner" by John Wall
Sep 05, 2022
"California Burning" by Katherine Blunt
Sep 04, 2022
"The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures" by Paul Fischer
Aug 29, 2022
"Sinkable" by Daniel Stone
Aug 17, 2022
"Small Farms Are Real Farms" by John Ikerd
Aug 17, 2022
"The Fishermen and the Dragon" by Kirk Wallace Johnson
Aug 15, 2022
"Misfire: Inside the Downfall of the NRA" by Tim Mak
Aug 14, 2022
"The Warrior Within" by D.J. Vanas
Aug 12, 2022
"Reading For Our Lives" by Maya Payne Smart
Aug 11, 2022
"George Washington" by David Stewart
Aug 09, 2022
"All of the Marvels" by Douglas Wolk
Aug 06, 2022
"Revelations in Air" by Jude Stewart
Aug 06, 2022
"An Honest Living" by Dwyer Murphy
Aug 06, 2022
"Hollywood Ending" by Ken Auletta
Aug 01, 2022
"Aurora" by Dr. Lynne Fenton and Kerrie Droban
Jul 27, 2022
"Armoured" by Mark Greaney
Jul 21, 2022
"Thank You For Your Servitude" by Mark Leibovich
Jul 18, 2022
"Regeneration" by Paul Hawken
Jul 13, 2022
"The Ultimate Stay-at-Home Dad" by Shannon Carpenter
Jul 11, 2022
"To Boldly Grow" by Tamar Haspel
Jul 09, 2022
"Exploring the Land of Lincoln" by Charles Titus
Jul 08, 2022
"Jerks At Work" by Tessa West
Jul 08, 2022
"How To Take Over the World" by Ryan North
Jul 06, 2022
"The Power of Regret" by Daniel Pink
Jul 06, 2022
"Trillions" by Robin Wigglesworth
Jul 05, 2022
“Frequently Asked Questions About the Universe” by Jorge Cham and Daniel Whiteson
Jul 03, 2022
"Search" by Michelle Huneven
Jun 21, 2022
"Booth" by Karen Joy Fowler
Jun 19, 2022
"The Plant Hunter" by Cassandra Quave
Jun 18, 2022
"Major Labels" by Kelefa Sanneh
Jun 18, 2022
"The Comfort Book" by Matt Haig
Jun 18, 2022
"Red Carpet" by Erich Schwartzel
Jun 17, 2022
"Stacked" by Joe Saul-Sehy and Emily Guy Birken
Jun 17, 2022
"Black American Refugee" by Tiffanie Drayton
Jun 16, 2022
"Think Like a Horse" by Grant Golliher
Jun 16, 2022
"Phasers on Stun!" by Ryan Britt
Jun 05, 2022
"American Comics: A History" by Jeremy Dauber
May 11, 2022
"Destination Heartland" by Cynthia Clampitt
May 11, 2022
"Fire and Flood" by Eugene Linden
May 11, 2022
"When Women Invented Television" by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
May 09, 2022
"Insect Crisis" by Oliver Milman
May 08, 2022
"Because He's Jeff Goldblum" by Travis Andrews
Apr 22, 2022
"Indelible City" by Louisa Lim
Apr 21, 2022
"This is Where You Belong" by Melody Warnick
Apr 21, 2022
"Life on the Rocks" by Juli Berwald
Apr 21, 2022
"Generation Sleepless" by Julie Wright and Heather Turgeon
Apr 21, 2022
"Incomparable Grace--JFK in the Presidency" by Mark Updegrove
Apr 21, 2022
"Dream-Build-Grow: A Female's Step-by-Step Guide for How to Start a Business" by Francie Hinrichsen
Apr 12, 2022
"What Happened to the Bennetts" by Lisa Scottoline
Mar 22, 2022
"Sandy Hook" by Elizabeth Williamson
Mar 17, 2022
"From Strength to Strength" by Arthur Brooks
Mar 09, 2022
"Can I Recycle This" by Jennie Romer
Mar 06, 2022
"Small World" by Jonathan Evison
Mar 06, 2022
"Shutdown: How Covid Shook the World's Economy"
Mar 06, 2022
Travels with George
Mar 05, 2022