Narrative Edge
Episodes
A Fate Worse than Hell: American Prisoners of the Civil War by W. Fitzhugh Brundage
21 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Explore the harsh realities of Civil War prison camps, including Andersonville, in this episode featuring historian Fitzhugh Brundage and his book A F...
In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man: A Memoir By Tom Junod
07 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Peter Biello and Orlando Montoya explore In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man by Tom Junod. They discuss the ...
Kin by Tayari Jones
24 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Peter and Orlando explore Kin by Tayari Jones. They discuss how the friendship between Annie and Nisi anchors the novel, along with J...
Kin by Tayari Jones
24 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Peter and Orlando explore Kin by Tayari Jones. They discuss how the friendship between Annie and Nisi anchors the novel, along with J...
Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Ace Atkins
10 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Author Ace Atkins joins us to discuss Everybody Wants to Rule the World, a Cold War spy novel set in 1985 Atlanta. We explore how real espionage histo...
The Pain Brokers: How Con Men, Call Centers, and Rogue Doctors Fuel America's Lawsuit Factory By Elizabeth Chamblee Burch
24 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Peter and Orlando explore The Pain Brokers by Elizabeth Chamblee Burch, a gripping investigation into how call centers, lenders, lawy...
The Pain Brokers: How Con Men, Call Centers, and Rogue Doctors Fuel America's Lawsuit Factory By Elizabeth Chamblee Burch
24 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Peter and Orlando explore The Pain Brokers by Elizabeth Chamblee Burch, a gripping investigation into how call centers, lenders, lawy...
Rough House: A Father, a Son, and the Pursuit of Wrestling Glory by Allison Lyn Miller
10 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Peter and Orlando explore Rough House: A Father, a Son, and the Pursuit of Wrestling Glory, a deeply reported look at Georgia’s independent professi...
Scarlett: Slavery’s Enduring Legacy in an American Family by Leslie Stainton
27 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss Scarlett: Slavery’s Enduring Legacy in an American Family, a work of creative nonfiction that traces one white family’...
Scarlett: Slavery’s Enduring Legacy in an American Family by Leslie Stainton
27 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we discuss Scarlett: Slavery’s Enduring Legacy in an American Family, a work of creative nonfiction that traces one white family’...
Angels at the Gate by Sherri Joseph: A College Mystery of Class, Secrets, and Coming of Age
13 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Explore Angels at the Gate by Atlanta author Sherri Joseph, a campus novel that blends coming-of-age, mystery, and class tension. Listen in as Peter a...
The Fight of His Life: Joe Louis’s Battle for Freedom During World War II by Randy Roberts & Johnny Smith
30 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Narrative Edge, you join hosts Peter Biello and Orlando Montoya to explore The Fight of His Life: Joe Louis’s Battle for Freedom ...
Winning the Earthquake by Lorissa Rinehart
16 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode explores Winning the Earthquake: How Jeannette Rankin Defied All Odds to Become the First Woman in Congress by historian Lorissa Rinehart...
Dark Sisters by Kristi DeMeester
02 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Narrative Edge, you join Peter Biello and Orlando Montoya for a conversation about Dark Sisters, the new horror novel by Atlanta wr...
House of Smoke: A Southerner Goes Searching for Home by John T. Edge
18 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Narrative Edge, you join hosts Peter Biello and Orlando Montoya for a deep dive into John T. Edge’s memoir House of Smoke: A Sout...
Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation by Zaakir Tameez
04 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dive into Charles Sumner’s life and legacy, from his abolitionist roots in Boston to the “Crime Against Kansas” speech and the caning by Preston...
Hot Desk by Laura Dickerman
21 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode, Peter Biello and Orlando Montoya unpack Hot Desk by Atlanta author Laura Dickerman, a witty romantic comedy set inside rival New York...
The Only Verse by Alan Caldwell
07 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Peter and Orlando talk with Georgia writer and longtime teacher Alan Caldwell to discuss his first poetry collection, The Only Verse. You hear Caldwel...
Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi
23 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This episode explores Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi, a sweeping historical novel that reframes the Persephone myth in a reimagined fifteenth-century We...
Sweet and Deadly: How Coca-Cola Spreads Disinformation and Makes Us Sick by Murray Carpenter
09 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If we knew that Coca-Cola was one of the deadliest products in the American diet, would we keep drinking it? In this episode, journalist Murray Carpen...
Jane and Dan at the End of the World By Colleen Oakley
26 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On this episode of Narrative Edge, Peter and Orlando dive into Colleen Oakley’s witty and fast-paced novel Jane and Dan at the End of the World. Wha...
Spitfires by Becky Aikman
12 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Orlando Montoya and Peter Biello explore Spitfires by Becky Aikman, the story of American women who ferried aircraft for Britain’s Royal Air Force d...
The Many Passions of Michael Hardwick: Sex and the Supreme Court in the Age of AIDS by Martin Padgett
29 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Hardwick had no idea that when a police officer stood at his bedroom door on August 3, 1982, he would become a face of the gay rights movement...
The Fantasies of Future Things By Doug Jones
15 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Fantasies of Future Things is set in the rapidly changing landscape of Atlanta on the eve of the 1996 Olympics. On this episode of Narrative Edge,...
Seven Islands of the Ocmulgee: River Stories by Gordon Johnston
01 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Peter Biello and Orlando Montoya dive into Seven Islands of the Ocmulgee: River Stories by Gordon Johnston, a haunting collection of ...
You Can't Kill a Man Because of the Books He Reads by Brad Snyder
03 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
LISTEN: In this episode of Narrative Edge, Peter and Orlando explore the Georgia story at the heart of Brad Snyder’s book You Can’t Kill a Man Bec...
Heather Christle's In the Rhododendrons A Memoir with Appearances by Virginia Woolf
20 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Peter Biello and Orlando Montoya dive into In the Rhododendrons: A Memoir with Appearances by Virginia Woolf by Heather Christle. The...
The Way You Want To Be Loved by Aruni Kashyap
06 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Peter Biello and Orlando Montoya explore The Way You Want to Be Loved by Aruni Kashyap, a short story collection that tackles identity, displacement, ...
The Stained Glass Window by David Levering Lewis
22 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Levering Lewis turns his lens inward in The Stained Glass Window, tracing his family's journey from slavery to ...
Love Sick Century by Elly Bookman
08 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Peter Biello and Orlando Montoya explore Love Sick Century, a poetry collection by Atlanta writer Elly Bookman that finds meaning in ...
The Trial of Mrs. Rhinelander by Denny S. Bryce
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Inspired by a real-life scandal that was shocking even for the tumultuous Roaring Twenties, this captivating novel tells the story of a pioneering Bla...
Blue Ray by Tony Whedon
11 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Inspired by painting, poetry, and jazz, poet Tony Whedon says he "can't wait to get to that computer every morning to see what's going to happen....
Evil in Me by Brom
25 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Aspiring musician Ruby Tucker has had enough of her small rural town and dysfunctional family. But a falling out with her best friend and bandmate has...
BONUS - After Annie: A Novel by Anna Quindlen
18 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Annie Brown dies suddenly, her husband, her children, and her closest friend are left to find a way forward without the woman who has been the ly...
Somewhere Toward Freedom: Sherman's March and the Story of America's Largest Emancipation By Bennett Parten
11 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A groundbreaking account of Sherman’s march to the Sea — the critical Civil War campaign that destroyed the Confederacy — told for the first tim...
The Name of This Band Is R.E.M. by Peter Ames Carlin
28 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Peter and Orlando explore this rich, intimate biography, from critically acclaimed author Peter Ames Carlin. This book looks beyond the sex, drugs, an...
Kill Your Masters: Run The Jewels and the World That Made Them by Jaap van der Doelen
14 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Killer Mike, a Black man from Atlanta, Ga., and El-P, a white man from Brooklyn, N.Y., have transformed what should have been the twilight of their ca...
The Art of Her Life by Cynthia Newberry Martin
31 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
At nine years old, on her first visit to a museum, Emily fell in love with Breakfast, a painting by Henri Matisse. Now a single mother, she lives...
Come By Here: A Memoir in Essays from Georgia’s Geechee Coast by Neesha Powell-Ingabire
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Peter and Orlando discuss this powerful memoir from Neesha Powell-Ingabire. In it, she chips away at coastal Georgia’s facade of beaches and golden ...
UnStuck: Rebirth of an American Icon By Stephanie Stuckey
03 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Unstuck is the inspiring firsthand account of Stephanie Stuckey’s rise to CEO upon suddenly acquiring her family’s beloved yet struggling brand, w...
Norman Maclean: A Life of Letters and Rivers by Rebecca McCarthy
19 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Athens resident Rebecca McCarthy creates an intimate portrait of Norman Maclean, drawing on her long friendship with the author from when she became a...
"John Lewis: A Life" by David Greenberg
05 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Peter and Orlando explore the comprehensive, authoritative biography of civil rights icon John Lewis, “The Conscience of the Congre...
Girl at the End of the World by Erin Carlyle
22 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Peter and Orlando discuss Erin Carlyle’s Girl at the End of the World, a collection of poetry that considers the complex grief of a parent lost...
Broken Things by Lori Duff
08 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're all a little bit broken, aren't we? Young widow Tracie Shaw may be more than most. She spends her days hidden away making beautiful treasures ou...
Flight of the Wild Swan by Melissa Pritchard
24 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Narrative Edge, hosts Peter Biello and Orlando Montoya explore Flight of the Wild Swan by Melissa Pritchard, a novelization of Flor...
Red Clay Suzie By Jeffrey Dale Lofton
10 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
LISTEN: The coming-of-age story of Philbet, gay and living with a disability, battles bullying, ignorance, and disdain as he makes his way in life as ...
A Devil Went Down to Georgia: Race, Power, Privilege, and the Murder of Lita McClinton by Deb Miller Landau
27 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The 1987 murder of Lita McClinton Sullivan sent shockwaves through the affluent Atlanta suburb of Buckhead. The neighborhood, with its stately mansion...
Savannah Sideways by Jessica Leigh Lebos
13 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jessica Leigh Lebos describes herself as a writer, adopted Southerner, anti-socialite and Camellia Thief. On this episode of Narrative Edge, Orlando i...
Inside the Mirror by Parul Kapur
30 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Winner of the AWP Prize for the Novel, Parul Kapur’s "Inside the Mirror" is set in the aftermath of colonialism, as an impoverished India struggle...
One Blood by Denene Millner
16 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this epic novel, New York Times bestselling author Denene Millner explores the lives of three generations of women tied together by love, hope, dre...
The Curators by Maggie Nye
02 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Violence haunts 1915 Atlanta and so does the golem a group of girls creates. A dark, lyrical blend of historical fiction and magical realism, "The Cu...
Fortune and Folly: The Weird and Wonderful Life of the South's Most Eccentric Millionaire by Sara Butler
18 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Join hosts Orlando Montoya and Peter Biello as they dive into the fascinating life of Asa 'Buddy' Candler Jr., the eccentric son of Coca-Cola founder ...
Bomb Island by Stephen Hundley
04 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Part coming-of-age romance, part thriller, "Bomb Island" is a funny and fast-paced Southern summer novel exploring sub-culture communities, survival, ...
Josh Green's Secrets of Ash: A Novel of War, Brotherhood, and Going Home Again
21 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Secrets of Ash is a riveting, fast-paced, and suspenseful novel of fraternal love and dark memories, told from the alternating points of view of two ...
Carson McCullers: A Life by Mary V. Dearborn
07 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Orlando and Peter explore the life and legacy of celebrated Southern writer Carson McCullers. Drawing from the new biography "Carson ...
Zenith Man: Death, Love, and Redemption in a Georgia Courtroom
23 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we unravel the complex story of Alvin Ridley, the "Zenith Man," a television repairman from a small town in Georgia who was accused o...
Godfall by Van Jensen
09 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When a massive asteroid hurtles toward Earth, humanity braces for annihilation—but the end doesn’t come. In fact, it isn’t an asteroid but a thr...
Rahad Abir's Bengal Hound: A Novel
26 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A city is hellbent on revolution. Passionate and impetuous, Shelley is a university student at a time of political discord in Dhaka in the late 1960s....
The Book of James: The Power, Politics, and Passion of LeBron by Valerie Babb
12 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
One of the world's greatest basketball players is the hero in two very American tales: one, a success story the nation loves; the other, the latest in...
Michael Thurmond's James Oglethorpe, Father of Georgia: A Founder’s Journey from Slave Trader to Abolitionist
27 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Utilizing more than two decades of meticulous research, fresh historical analysis, and compelling storytelling, Michael L. Thurmond rewrites the prehi...
Benjamin Herold's Disillusioned: Five Families and the Unraveling of America's Suburbs
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For generations, upwardly mobile white families have extracted opportunity from the nation’s heavily subsidized suburbs, then moved on before the bi...
Flannery O'Connor's Why Do the Heathen Rage? A Behind-the-Scenes Look at a Work in Progress by Jessica Hooten Wilson
30 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When celebrated American novelist and short story writer Flannery O’Connor died at the age of 39 in 1964, she left behind an unfinished third novel ...
Dan Sinykin: Big Fiction
16 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Sinykin details how changes in the publishing industry have affected fiction and literary form, and reveals how conglomeration has shaped what kin...
Kathy Bradley's Sifting Artifacts: Essays
02 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In her third book of essays, Georgia Author of the Year Award winner Kathy Bradley continues to ask important questions about humanity, community, and...
Johnny Smith's Jumpman: The Making and Meaning of Michael Jordan
19 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Jordan's path to greatness was shaped by race, politics, and the consequences of fame. To become the most revered basketball player in America...
John Blake: More Than I Imagined
05 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Award-winning CNN journalist John Blake grew up a self-described “closeted biracial person,” hostile toward white people while hiding the truth of...
Anita Gail Jones: The Peach Seed
21 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
An indelible portrait of a family, The Peach Seed explores how kin pass down legacies of sorrow, joy, and strength. And it is a parable of how a gli...
Alan Paul's Brothers and Sisters: The Allman Brothers Band and the Inside Story of the Album That Defined the '70s
07 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Allman Brothers Band's "Brothers and Sisters" is iconic. In this episode, Peter and Orlando discuss Alan Paul's deep dive into the time before a...
Mary Louise Kelly: It. Goes. So. Fast. The Year of No Do-Overs
24 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Famed NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly comes to grips with the reality every parent faces: childhood has a definite expiration date. Peter and Orlando...
Wanda Morris: Anywhere You Run
10 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s the summer of 1964 and three innocent men are brutally murdered for trying to help Black Mississippians secure the right to vote. Against this ...
Sally Sierer Bethea: Keeping the Chattahoochee
26 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sally Sierer Bethea was one of the first women in America to become a “riverkeeper”—a vocal defender of a specific waterway who holds polluters ...
Matthew Dallek's Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right
12 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
At the height of the John Birch Society’s activity in the 1960s, critics dismissed its members as a paranoid fringe. After all, “Birchers” belie...
Joe Coscarelli's Rap Capital: An Atlanta Story
29 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
LISTEN: Some of the most popular music in the world has roots in Atlanta. In "Rap Capital: An Atlanta Story," author Joe Coscarelli chronicles what i...
Jonathan Eig's King: A Life
15 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"King: A Life" by Jonathan Eig, the first major biography of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in decades, is a generational book filled with new information...
Julia Franks: The Say So
01 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Award-winning author Julia Franks' latest novel is the story of two young women contending with unplanned pregnancies in different eras. After a disc...
Ilyon Woo: Master Slave Husband Wife
18 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"Master Slave Husband Wife" by Ilyon Woo is the true story of two enslaved people from Macon, William and Ellen Craft, who escaped to freedom in 1848....
Narrative Edge Trailer
13 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Georgia Public Broadcasting's Narrative Edge highlights books with Georgia connections. Hosted by two of your favorite public radio book nerds who als...