Fresh Air Weekend: Novelist Max Brooks; 'What She Ate'; Poet Molly McCully Brown

Published August 25, 2017 at 9:33 AM CDT

Author Max Brooks has done extensive research on preparing for widespread catastrophe. He's now a fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point.

Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week:

Novelist Max Brooks On Doomsday, Dyslexia And Growing Up With Hollywood Parents:Brooks' stable childhood with parents Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft stands in contrast to the wild stories he tells in novels like World War Zand Minecraft: The Island.

'What She Ate' Reveals The Plates And Palates Of 6 Notable Women:Laura Shapiro has likened her method of biographical research to "standing in line at the supermarket and peering into the other carts." Critic Maureen Corrigan says her resulting book is fascinating.

Poet Imagines Life Inside A 1910 Institution That Eugenics Built:Molly McCully Brown, who has cerebral palsy, says that if she'd been born in a different era, she might have been sent to the "Virginia State Colony," an early landmark of the U.S. eugenics movement.

You can listen to the original interviews here:

Novelist Max Brooks On Doomsday, Dyslexia And Growing Up With Hollywood Parents

'What She Ate' Reveals The Plates And Palates Of 6 Notable Women

Poet Imagines Life Inside A 1910 Institution That Eugenics Built