web01.fireside.fm Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:58:13 -0500 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Story Behind the Story - Episodes Tagged with “Nonfiction” https://story.fireside.fm/tags/nonfiction Sat, 06 Sep 2025 06:30:00 -0700 Host Clara Sherley-Appel interviews authors about their creative process, from the inspiration behind the books they write to specific choices they make. en-us episodic Stories about stories and how they came to be Clara Sherley-Appel Host Clara Sherley-Appel interviews authors about their creative process, from the inspiration behind the books they write to specific choices they make. no books, book show, author interviews, interviews, stories Clara Sherley-Appel clara@ksqd.org Episode 60: Christopher Blackwell and Deborah Zalesne - ENDING ISOLATION: THE CASE AGAINST SOLITARY CONFINEMENT https://story.fireside.fm/60 f8be7a7a-87bd-4584-a224-b77bf29f100c Sat, 06 Sep 2025 06:30:00 -0700 Clara Sherley-Appel full Clara Sherley-Appel I talk to prison journalist Christopher Blackwell and legal scholar Deborah Zalesne about their book, ENDING ISOLATION: THE CASE AGAINST SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, which comes out later this month. 56:33 no Christopher Blackwell is an award-winning journalist currently incarcerated at the Washington Corrections Center, where he is serving a 45-year prison sentence for taking another human’s life during a drug robbery (something he takes full accountability for). Deborah Zalesne is a legal expert and law professor at the City University of New York School of Law, where she teaches contracts, corporate law, and commercial law. Together with Dr. Terry Kupers and Kwaneta Harris, they wrote Ending Isolation: The Case Against Solitary Confinement (https://bookshop.org/p/books/ending-isolation-the-case-against-solitary-confinement/0a24fd8bf0aabec1?ean=9780745351278), which weaves together first-hand accounts of incarceration and solitary confinement with legal and medical analyses to illustrate the devastating impacts of solitary confinement on survivors, their families, and the communities they are part of (both inside and outside of prison). In this episode, I talk to Debbie and Chris about the history of solitary confinement, the legal frameworks that prevent reform from taking root, the challenges and abuses incarcerated individuals face when asserting their rights, and how the realities of solitary confinement differ from how it is portrayed to the public. They also discuss the Journey to Justice Bus Tour (https://journeytojusticetour.com/) they have put together, in partnership with Unlock the Box (https://unlocktheboxcampaign.org/) and Look 2 Justice (https://www.look2justice.org/), to help educate the public about the experience and impacts of solitary confinement. christopher blackwell, deborah zalesne, authors, nonfiction, solitary confinement Christopher Blackwell is an award-winning journalist currently incarcerated at the Washington Corrections Center, where he is serving a 45-year prison sentence for taking another human’s life during a drug robbery (something he takes full accountability for).

Deborah Zalesne is a legal expert and law professor at the City University of New York School of Law, where she teaches contracts, corporate law, and commercial law.

Together with Dr. Terry Kupers and Kwaneta Harris, they wrote Ending Isolation: The Case Against Solitary Confinement, which weaves together first-hand accounts of incarceration and solitary confinement with legal and medical analyses to illustrate the devastating impacts of solitary confinement on survivors, their families, and the communities they are part of (both inside and outside of prison).

In this episode, I talk to Debbie and Chris about the history of solitary confinement, the legal frameworks that prevent reform from taking root, the challenges and abuses incarcerated individuals face when asserting their rights, and how the realities of solitary confinement differ from how it is portrayed to the public. They also discuss the Journey to Justice Bus Tour they have put together, in partnership with Unlock the Box and Look 2 Justice, to help educate the public about the experience and impacts of solitary confinement.

]]> Christopher Blackwell is an award-winning journalist currently incarcerated at the Washington Corrections Center, where he is serving a 45-year prison sentence for taking another human’s life during a drug robbery (something he takes full accountability for).

Deborah Zalesne is a legal expert and law professor at the City University of New York School of Law, where she teaches contracts, corporate law, and commercial law.

Together with Dr. Terry Kupers and Kwaneta Harris, they wrote Ending Isolation: The Case Against Solitary Confinement, which weaves together first-hand accounts of incarceration and solitary confinement with legal and medical analyses to illustrate the devastating impacts of solitary confinement on survivors, their families, and the communities they are part of (both inside and outside of prison).

In this episode, I talk to Debbie and Chris about the history of solitary confinement, the legal frameworks that prevent reform from taking root, the challenges and abuses incarcerated individuals face when asserting their rights, and how the realities of solitary confinement differ from how it is portrayed to the public. They also discuss the Journey to Justice Bus Tour they have put together, in partnership with Unlock the Box and Look 2 Justice, to help educate the public about the experience and impacts of solitary confinement.

]]> Episode 57: John Gibler - TORN FROM THE WORLD https://story.fireside.fm/57 22be326b-c875-4fba-ae79-84346fc4a6f8 Sat, 03 May 2025 13:00:00 -0700 Clara Sherley-Appel full Clara Sherley-Appel I talk to author and journalist John Gibler about his 2014 book, TORN FROM THE WORLD: A GUERILLA'S ESCAPE FROM A SECRET PRISON IN MEXICO. 54:48 no In this episode of Story Behind the Story, host Clara Sherley-Appel talks to journalist John Gibler about his 2014 book, Torn from the World: A Guerrilla's Escape from a Secret Prison in Mexico. Torn from the World tells the story of Andrés Tzompaxtle Tecpile, a member of an armed resistance group who was forcibly disappeared and tortured by the Mexican military long after the government claimed it had stopped using these tactics. Gibler has been reporting on social movements in Mexico since 2006, when he accompanied members of the Zapatista movement on The Other Campaign (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Other_Campaign). That experience shaped his understanding of the role of journalists and journalism in resistance movements, and since then, much of his work has focused on chronicling these movements and the violent means states use to suppress them. In addition to Torn from the World, he is also the author of Mexico Unconquered: Chronicles of Power and Revolt (2009), To Die in Mexico: Dispatches from Inside the Drug War (2011), and I Couldn't Even Imagine that They Would Kill Us: An Oral History of the Attacks Against the Students of Ayotzinapa. While he lives and works primarily in Mexico, his reporting has taken him all over Latin America. john gibler, authors, nonfiction, journalism, state violence In this episode of Story Behind the Story, host Clara Sherley-Appel talks to journalist John Gibler about his 2014 book, Torn from the World: A Guerrilla's Escape from a Secret Prison in Mexico. Torn from the World tells the story of Andrés Tzompaxtle Tecpile, a member of an armed resistance group who was forcibly disappeared and tortured by the Mexican military long after the government claimed it had stopped using these tactics.

Gibler has been reporting on social movements in Mexico since 2006, when he accompanied members of the Zapatista movement on The Other Campaign. That experience shaped his understanding of the role of journalists and journalism in resistance movements, and since then, much of his work has focused on chronicling these movements and the violent means states use to suppress them. In addition to Torn from the World, he is also the author of Mexico Unconquered: Chronicles of Power and Revolt (2009), To Die in Mexico: Dispatches from Inside the Drug War (2011), and I Couldn't Even Imagine that They Would Kill Us: An Oral History of the Attacks Against the Students of Ayotzinapa. While he lives and works primarily in Mexico, his reporting has taken him all over Latin America.

]]> In this episode of Story Behind the Story, host Clara Sherley-Appel talks to journalist John Gibler about his 2014 book, Torn from the World: A Guerrilla's Escape from a Secret Prison in Mexico. Torn from the World tells the story of Andrés Tzompaxtle Tecpile, a member of an armed resistance group who was forcibly disappeared and tortured by the Mexican military long after the government claimed it had stopped using these tactics.

Gibler has been reporting on social movements in Mexico since 2006, when he accompanied members of the Zapatista movement on The Other Campaign. That experience shaped his understanding of the role of journalists and journalism in resistance movements, and since then, much of his work has focused on chronicling these movements and the violent means states use to suppress them. In addition to Torn from the World, he is also the author of Mexico Unconquered: Chronicles of Power and Revolt (2009), To Die in Mexico: Dispatches from Inside the Drug War (2011), and I Couldn't Even Imagine that They Would Kill Us: An Oral History of the Attacks Against the Students of Ayotzinapa. While he lives and works primarily in Mexico, his reporting has taken him all over Latin America.

]]> Episode 56: Laura Spinney - PROTO https://story.fireside.fm/56 ddc41655-4edb-4a15-920e-75fa00e5b27a Mon, 21 Apr 2025 21:00:00 -0700 Clara Sherley-Appel full Clara Sherley-Appel I talk to author and journalist Laura Spinney about her latest book, PROTO: HOW ONE ANCIENT LANGUAGE WENT GLOBAL. 54:04 no Laura Spinney is the author of two novels and three non-fiction books, including Pale Rider, a historical exploration of the 1918 flu epidemic, which came out in 2017. In this interview, we discuss her latest book, Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global, which traces the evolution of Proto-Indo-European — the hypothetical, reconstructed common ancestor of all languages in the Indo-European language family — from its purported origins with the Yamnaya people of the Pontic steppe through migrations and metamorphoses into nearly 450 languages spoken by 3.4 billion people worldwide today. laura spinney, authors, nonfiction, language, historical linguistics Laura Spinney is the author of two novels and three non-fiction books, including Pale Rider, a historical exploration of the 1918 flu epidemic, which came out in 2017. In this interview, we discuss her latest book, Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global, which traces the evolution of Proto-Indo-European — the hypothetical, reconstructed common ancestor of all languages in the Indo-European language family — from its purported origins with the Yamnaya people of the Pontic steppe through migrations and metamorphoses into nearly 450 languages spoken by 3.4 billion people worldwide today.

]]> Laura Spinney is the author of two novels and three non-fiction books, including Pale Rider, a historical exploration of the 1918 flu epidemic, which came out in 2017. In this interview, we discuss her latest book, Proto: How One Ancient Language Went Global, which traces the evolution of Proto-Indo-European — the hypothetical, reconstructed common ancestor of all languages in the Indo-European language family — from its purported origins with the Yamnaya people of the Pontic steppe through migrations and metamorphoses into nearly 450 languages spoken by 3.4 billion people worldwide today.

]]> Episode 49: Tedd Siegel - SIGNS OF THE GREAT REFUSAL https://story.fireside.fm/49 6c0513ad-e180-4cf6-bb15-b61ee0f1297d Mon, 08 Apr 2024 20:00:00 -0700 Clara Sherley-Appel full Clara Sherley-Appel Clara talks to author and ex-academic administrator Tedd Siegel about his book SIGHTS OF THE GREAT REFUSAL: THE COMING STRUGGLE FOR A POSTWORK SOCIETY. 46:37 no Tedd Siegel retired from his career as an academic administrator in late 2019 after wrestling with extreme stress, burnout, and PTSD — caused, in part, by the conditions of work as it is formulated today. He wrote Signs of the Great Refusal: The Coming Struggle for a Postwork Society in part to work through his own experiences and, more broadly, to understand what it was about contemporary work that felt so untenable and unsustainable. Throughout the book, Tedd leans into his background as a political philosopher (he attended the Ph.D. program in philosophy at the New School), grounding his understanding of “work-as-we-know-it” in the political and economic critiques of capital going back to Marx in the 19th century, putting them into dialog with philosophical understandings of work and labor in the 20th century from Arendt and others. The result is an exploration not only of the role and function of work in contemporary society, but what it might take to build a post-work politics out of the nascent anti-work movements alive today. tedd siegel, authors, nonfiction, political philosophy, work Tedd Siegel retired from his career as an academic administrator in late 2019 after wrestling with extreme stress, burnout, and PTSD — caused, in part, by the conditions of work as it is formulated today. He wrote Signs of the Great Refusal: The Coming Struggle for a Postwork Society in part to work through his own experiences and, more broadly, to understand what it was about contemporary work that felt so untenable and unsustainable. Throughout the book, Tedd leans into his background as a political philosopher (he attended the Ph.D. program in philosophy at the New School), grounding his understanding of “work-as-we-know-it” in the political and economic critiques of capital going back to Marx in the 19th century, putting them into dialog with philosophical understandings of work and labor in the 20th century from Arendt and others. The result is an exploration not only of the role and function of work in contemporary society, but what it might take to build a post-work politics out of the nascent anti-work movements alive today.

]]> Tedd Siegel retired from his career as an academic administrator in late 2019 after wrestling with extreme stress, burnout, and PTSD — caused, in part, by the conditions of work as it is formulated today. He wrote Signs of the Great Refusal: The Coming Struggle for a Postwork Society in part to work through his own experiences and, more broadly, to understand what it was about contemporary work that felt so untenable and unsustainable. Throughout the book, Tedd leans into his background as a political philosopher (he attended the Ph.D. program in philosophy at the New School), grounding his understanding of “work-as-we-know-it” in the political and economic critiques of capital going back to Marx in the 19th century, putting them into dialog with philosophical understandings of work and labor in the 20th century from Arendt and others. The result is an exploration not only of the role and function of work in contemporary society, but what it might take to build a post-work politics out of the nascent anti-work movements alive today.

]]> Episode 44: Jenn Shapland - THIN SKIN https://story.fireside.fm/44 43d31595-791b-45cc-82a4-5f47ba7e8238 Sat, 07 Oct 2023 17:00:00 -0700 Clara Sherley-Appel full Clara Sherley-Appel Host Clara Sherley-Appel speaks with Jenn Shapland, whose new essay collection, Thin Skin, explores the porousness of boundaries — between humans and the environments we inhabit, between ourselves and other people, and between the identities we construct and the social pressures and expectations we encounter. 55:21 no Jenn Shapland's first book, My Autobiography of Carson McCullers, was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award and the Southern Book Prize, and it won the 2021 Lambda Literary Award, the Judy Grahn Award, and the Christian Gauss Award. In her new essay collection, Thin Skin, Shapland explores the porousness of boundaries between humans and the environments we inhabit, between us and other people, and between us and the social constructs we create. What does it mean to be sensitive when we live in a toxic environment? How do we navigate the difference between taking responsibility and assuaging our guilt? Between resisting injustice and coping with it? And how do we reckon with what's happening in the world when no one wants to talk about it? Shapland answers these questions and more in this month's episode of Story Behind the Story. Special Guest: Jenn Shapland. jenn shapland, authors, nonfiction, boundaries, environmental toxicity Jenn Shapland's first book, My Autobiography of Carson McCullers, was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award and the Southern Book Prize, and it won the 2021 Lambda Literary Award, the Judy Grahn Award, and the Christian Gauss Award. In her new essay collection, Thin Skin, Shapland explores the porousness of boundaries between humans and the environments we inhabit, between us and other people, and between us and the social constructs we create.

What does it mean to be sensitive when we live in a toxic environment? How do we navigate the difference between taking responsibility and assuaging our guilt? Between resisting injustice and coping with it? And how do we reckon with what's happening in the world when no one wants to talk about it? Shapland answers these questions and more in this month's episode of Story Behind the Story.

Special Guest: Jenn Shapland.

]]> Jenn Shapland's first book, My Autobiography of Carson McCullers, was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award and the Southern Book Prize, and it won the 2021 Lambda Literary Award, the Judy Grahn Award, and the Christian Gauss Award. In her new essay collection, Thin Skin, Shapland explores the porousness of boundaries between humans and the environments we inhabit, between us and other people, and between us and the social constructs we create.

What does it mean to be sensitive when we live in a toxic environment? How do we navigate the difference between taking responsibility and assuaging our guilt? Between resisting injustice and coping with it? And how do we reckon with what's happening in the world when no one wants to talk about it? Shapland answers these questions and more in this month's episode of Story Behind the Story.

Special Guest: Jenn Shapland.

]]> Episode 43: Brett Christophers - RENTIER CAPITALISM https://story.fireside.fm/43 6f85ef6a-8b6f-4078-ad7b-20b1bef7193e Sat, 02 Sep 2023 17:00:00 -0700 Clara Sherley-Appel full Clara Sherley-Appel Host Clara Sherley Appel speaks with Brett Christophers, author of _Rentier Capitalism_. 53:52 no Host Clara Sherley Appel speaks with Brett Christophers, author of Rentier Capitalism. A geographer based out of the Institute for Housing and Urban Research at Uppsala University, Brett's work focuses on various aspects of Western capitalism, both historically and in the present day. In 2018, he wrote The New Enclosure, about Margaret Thatcher’s immensely successful program to privatize land in the UK, for which he won the 2019 Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize. In 2020 he published Rentier Capitalism, which provides a framework for understanding the political economy of the 20th and 21st centuries in terms of the extraction of rents by the haves from the have nots, and explores the consequences of an economic system that incentivizes private ownership on a massive scale. Though the focus of Christophers' book is on the UK, he extends his analysis to California's housing crisis as part of this conversation, making it essential listening for anyong seeking to understand the damage that has been done during the neoliberal era — and what is necessary to undo it. Special Guest: Brett Christophers. brett christophers, authors, nonfiction, political economy, housing Host Clara Sherley Appel speaks with Brett Christophers, author of Rentier Capitalism.

A geographer based out of the Institute for Housing and Urban Research at Uppsala University, Brett's work focuses on various aspects of Western capitalism, both historically and in the present day. In 2018, he wrote The New Enclosure, about Margaret Thatcher’s immensely successful program to privatize land in the UK, for which he won the 2019 Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize. In 2020 he published Rentier Capitalism, which provides a framework for understanding the political economy of the 20th and 21st centuries in terms of the extraction of rents by the haves from the have nots, and explores the consequences of an economic system that incentivizes private ownership on a massive scale.

Though the focus of Christophers' book is on the UK, he extends his analysis to California's housing crisis as part of this conversation, making it essential listening for anyong seeking to understand the damage that has been done during the neoliberal era — and what is necessary to undo it.

Special Guest: Brett Christophers.

]]> Host Clara Sherley Appel speaks with Brett Christophers, author of Rentier Capitalism.

A geographer based out of the Institute for Housing and Urban Research at Uppsala University, Brett's work focuses on various aspects of Western capitalism, both historically and in the present day. In 2018, he wrote The New Enclosure, about Margaret Thatcher’s immensely successful program to privatize land in the UK, for which he won the 2019 Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize. In 2020 he published Rentier Capitalism, which provides a framework for understanding the political economy of the 20th and 21st centuries in terms of the extraction of rents by the haves from the have nots, and explores the consequences of an economic system that incentivizes private ownership on a massive scale.

Though the focus of Christophers' book is on the UK, he extends his analysis to California's housing crisis as part of this conversation, making it essential listening for anyong seeking to understand the damage that has been done during the neoliberal era — and what is necessary to undo it.

Special Guest: Brett Christophers.

]]> Episode 36: Stephanie Foo - WHAT MY BONES KNOW https://story.fireside.fm/36 b90a5fb7-5ec8-4bb6-92a6-c935fbbd8817 Fri, 01 Apr 2022 09:00:00 -0700 Clara Sherley-Appel full Clara Sherley-Appel Host Clara Sherley-Appel talks to author and former NPR producer Stephanie Foo about her memoir, WHAT MY BONES KNOW. 54:10 no If you listen to the radio, you have almost certainly encountered Stephanie Foo's work. After graduating from UC Santa Cruz in just 3 years, she joined the staff of Snap Judgment, first as an intern and then as a full-time producer, before she moved to New York to work on This American Life. But Stephanie’s numerous accomplishments and accolades hid an intense internal struggle that ultimately led her to leave her dream job: in 2018, she was diagnosed with C-PTSD. In March 2022, she published What My Bones Know – a memoir that chronicles her journey to understand and heal from C-PTSD following her diagnosis. It is a powerful and deeply personal story that sheds light on an under-researched, poorly understood, and oft-stigmatized illness, and it is the subject of this month's conversation. Special Guest: Stephanie Foo. stephanie foo, authors, nonfiction, trauma, ptsd If you listen to the radio, you have almost certainly encountered Stephanie Foo's work. After graduating from UC Santa Cruz in just 3 years, she joined the staff of Snap Judgment, first as an intern and then as a full-time producer, before she moved to New York to work on This American Life. But Stephanie’s numerous accomplishments and accolades hid an intense internal struggle that ultimately led her to leave her dream job: in 2018, she was diagnosed with C-PTSD. In March 2022, she published What My Bones Know – a memoir that chronicles her journey to understand and heal from C-PTSD following her diagnosis. It is a powerful and deeply personal story that sheds light on an under-researched, poorly understood, and oft-stigmatized illness, and it is the subject of this month's conversation.

Special Guest: Stephanie Foo.

]]> If you listen to the radio, you have almost certainly encountered Stephanie Foo's work. After graduating from UC Santa Cruz in just 3 years, she joined the staff of Snap Judgment, first as an intern and then as a full-time producer, before she moved to New York to work on This American Life. But Stephanie’s numerous accomplishments and accolades hid an intense internal struggle that ultimately led her to leave her dream job: in 2018, she was diagnosed with C-PTSD. In March 2022, she published What My Bones Know – a memoir that chronicles her journey to understand and heal from C-PTSD following her diagnosis. It is a powerful and deeply personal story that sheds light on an under-researched, poorly understood, and oft-stigmatized illness, and it is the subject of this month's conversation.

Special Guest: Stephanie Foo.

]]>