Cross Word Books

Michele McAloon
  • 4.6 (27)
  • Books

mysteryhints@gmail.comListen. Learn. Engage. Welcome to Cross Word Books,  the podcast where we delve into compelling conversations with authors who illuminate history, politics, culture, faith, and art. Each episode uncovers intriguing insights and untold stories that shape our understanding of today’s world and the rich tapestry of ideas that define it. Whether you’re passionate about the cultural impact of art or curious about how history informs our political landscape, Crossword invites you to explore the diverse forces that influence human experience. Join our community of curious minds and subscribe now to embark on a journey of discovery, thoughtful reflection, and deeper connection with the world around us.

  1. Jun 29

    Four Cents An Acre?! Louisiana Purchase

    Send us Fan Mail bookclues.com. Find me! Looking for a big timely summer read? Dad book extraordinaire! This is it.  From LaSalle to Thomas Jefferson, the story of how our country was made in the grand sweep of time.  A true American tale as bold as the people who lived the story. Native Americans, Immigrants and enlsaved people. Lives coming together to establish a nation.  Four cents an acre. The greatest real estate deal in history. A clean swap that doubled the United States overnight. Those lines are catchy, and they’re also wildly incomplete. We sit down with historian Alexander Mikaberidze, author of The Louisiana Purchase: The Grand Bargain and the Making of America, to rebuild the story from the ground up and follow the long chain of events that made 1803 possible. We start where most retellings don’t: the Seven Years’ War (the French and Indian War) and the imperial scramble it triggered across North America. From LaSalle’s sweeping 1682 claim over everything west of the Mississippi River to the hard reality that Indigenous nations already held sovereignty, Louisiana begins as a gigantic, poorly defined idea. That ambiguity fuels decades of rivalry among France, Spain, and Britain and turns places like Natchez and New Orleans into high-stakes borderlands where diplomacy, trade, and military power collide. If you like early American history, Napoleonic history, constitutional debates, and the real origins of US continental expansion, hit play, then subscribe, share this with a fellow history reader, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. Find Professor Alexander Mikaberidze https://www.amikaberidze.com/

    50 min

  2. Jun 23

    The GOP Can it be Republican again?

    Send us Fan Mail Connect at bookclues.com What is conservatism?  How can conservative principals replace MAGA and populism in the Republican Party  Connect with Our Republican Legacy ourrepublicanlegacy.com The Republican Party is headed for a reckoning, and the real battle is not going to be fought on cable news. It is going to be fought in precinct meetings, county conventions, state parties, and the delegate math that decides who gets to call themselves “conservative” in 2028. We dig into the mission of Our Republican Legacy and why it is organizing inside the GOP rather than building a third party or another think tank. You will hear the five principles they want to unify around: peace through strength, free enterprise, fiscal responsibility, national unity, and the Constitution and the rule of law. We also talk NATO and alliances, tariffs and free trade, and how rapid tech change and AI pressure-test both free enterprise and civil liberties.  Politically homeless?  but still care about constitutional government, this conversation gives you a concrete path to engage before the 2028 presidential cycle accelerates. Subscribe for more idea-driven conversations, share this with a friend who argues in good faith, and leave a review with the principle you think the country can’t afford to lose.

    33 min

  3. Jun 15

    The American Revolution: Courage

    Send us Fan Mail bookclues.com. Find Michele  American Revolution | Historical Fiction | Thomas Paine | George Washington | Revolutionary War What does courage look like when you don't feel brave? George Washington “vaccinated” soldiers by giving them smallpox on purpose, and it may have saved the Revolution. That jaw-dropping history is just one of the realities we dig into with author Katherine Goodwin Tone as we explore her debut novel, The King’s Broad Arrow, an American Revolution adventure that doubles as a coming-of-age story about courage. In this episode of Cross Word Books, we speak  about Sam Nevins, a 14-year-old boy living in Revolutionary-era Maine who believes he's the only person with no desire to fight and no courage to offer. Through Sam's journey, we explore how courage is often less about personality and more about the choices we make when fear would rather send us home. Drawing on years of working with children and teaching, Katherine discusses themes of responsibility, friendship, happiness, and moral growth. We also dive into the world of Revolutionary America, exploring the impact of the printing press, censorship, banned books, Enlightenment thought, and the influence of Thomas Paine and his famous pamphlet Common Sense. If you enjoy historical fiction, young adult novels, American Revolution history, or thoughtful conversations with authors, this episode is for you. Cross Word Books — Where Cultural Clues Lead to the Truth of the Word.

    32 min

  4. Jun 8

    Wild Animals In The City

    Send us Fan Mail find Cross Word Books at bookclues.com Our Wild Familiars: How Animals Are Adapting to Cities and Reshaping the Natural World,  Dan Werb published by crown books of penguinrandomhouse.com Smart nature writing, urban planning ideas, and clear-eyed conversations about conservation and public health Nature is moving into the city, and it is not waiting for our permission. I sit down with award-winning writer and epidemiologist Dan Werb to talk about Our Wild Familiars: How Animals Are Adapting to Cities and Reshaping the Natural World, a book that reframes urban life as something far more alive than we usually notice. Once you learn the word synanthropy, you start seeing it everywhere: wild species living “together with humans,” adapting to our buildings, our routines, and our blind spots.  Why are cities are no longer “biological deserts,” and why urban is ecology  forcing a correction in how we think about biodiversity and conservation?. Dan shares stories that make the science feel personal, from bats thriving in the built environment to the startling discovery that giant Pacific octopus can be more common near the most industrial parts of Seattle’s waters. That leads to a bigger realization: the reach of urban development does not stop at the shoreline. Our roads, rail, and waste reshape land and water, and that reshaping creates winners, losers, and unexpected new neighbors. Because Dan is also an infectious disease researcher, we also talk openly about zoonotic disease spillover, outbreaks, and what pandemic surveillance can realistically do to reduce risk without turning wildlife into a scapegoat. We keep coming back to practical coexistence: why garbage is often the real “wildlife management” issue, how simple infrastructure changes reduce conflict with rats, raccoons, baboons, bears, and coyotes, and why fortress conservation alone cannot solve human-wildlife tension in a crowded world. If you enjoy , subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review. What wild animal have you noticed in your own neighborhood lately? tell us about it at bookclues.com

    40 min

  5. Jun 2

    Healing in Grace

    Send us Fan Mail bookclues.com. Connect. You Visited Me.  Grace and Healing in the Modern Medical Center By Dr Robert Collins, MD            Ignatius Press    ignatius.com A cancer doctor who lives by evidence and protocols tells a story that begins with an interruption he can’t explain: a question, heard like a voice in a lab, that challenged the idea that reality is only matter and chance. Dr. Robert Collins joins us to talk about his work in leukemia and lymphoma care, his journey from teenage skepticism to Christianity and Catholicism, and why he now sees hope as something sturdier than optimism. If you’ve ever searched for faith and medicine, prayer and healing, or what “whole person care” really means in a hospital, this conversation meets you right where you are.  We dig into what medicine is actually for, beyond fixing organs and chasing numbers. Dr. Collins explains healing as restoring wholeness, which means treating a patient as a person with relationships, fear, responsibilities, and a spiritual life that shapes how they face illness. He shares how prayer functions in his daily routine and in clinical practice, from quick hallway prayers before entering a room to the rare moments when he prays with a patient, always rooted in presence rather than performance.  Then we go to the hard ground: miracles and suffering. Dr. Collins offers a wider definition of miracle that includes the quiet work of grace, timely words, and the mysterious overlap of the spiritual and the material. We also wrestle with the question everyone asks sooner or later, why a good God allows suffering, without turning it into bullet points. A patient story of redemptive suffering and a son drawn back to faith shows how love can gather around a person at the end of life.

    32 min
  6. American Revolution was Global

    May 26

    American Revolution was Global

    Send us Fan Mail You can find out more about Cross Word bookclues.com. The Forgotten World WarExploring the Secret History of the American Revolution, from Spain to India and Back Again by Derek Baxter  published by  Source Books  Follow the American Revolution far beyond the 13 colonies and trace how diplomacy, logistics, and foreign interests shape independence. We talk with author Derek Baxter about the overlooked allies and global battlefields that turn a colonial revolt into a true world war. • Mercy Otis Warren as a trailblazing historian with a front-row view of the war • The Declaration of Independence as a strategic message to foreign powers • Gunpowder, artillery, and naval weakness as the Patriots’ early crisis • The failed Canada campaign as a lesson in diplomacy and homework • Bernardo de Galvez and Spain’s decisive Gulf Coast victories • Comte de Vergennes and Lafayette driving French support and public momentum • St Eustatius as a Dutch smuggling hub and the first foreign salute to the US flag • The Channel Islands and the failed France Spain invasion threat that pins Britain down • The Mysore Kingdom in India and the rocket technology tied to later British warfare • Why these stories fade from US memory and why the global view matters now Go to bookclues.com and look at some of the great books that we have been discussing on this podcast. Buy the book. Go to Source Books to discoer more great books. If you could be so kind to like and subscribe to my podcast, it would really be appreciated.

    38 min

  7. May 18

    What Happens When The Supreme Court Stops Chasing Headlines

    Send us Fan Mail Alito The Justice Who Reshaped the Supreme Court and Restored the Constitution by Mollie Heningway The Supreme Court doesn’t just decide cases; it teaches the country what power is allowed to do. Today on Cross Word Books, Michele McAloon talks with Molly Hemingway, senior editor at The Federalist and Fox News contributor, about her book on Justice Samuel Alito and why his originalism sits at the center of America’s biggest constitutional fights. They discuss judicial activism, the rise of originalism, religious liberty, free speech, the Voting Rights Act, and how Supreme Court opinions are actually built behind the scenes. If you care about the Constitution, judicial restraint, and how the Court really works, this episode will give you a clearer framework and sharper questions. Subscribe, share with a civics-minded friend, and leave a review. Check out Basic Liberty Publishing! Find Michele at bookclues.com

    34 min

  8. May 11

    National Treasure And The Many Lives Of The Declaration Of Independence

    Send us Fan Mail Contact Michele at bookclues.com The Declaration of Independence isn’t just a set of famous lines we quote every July. It’s a battered physical object that survived close calls, a national symbol that took decades to become sacred, and a cultural artifact that ended up on walls, plates, and posters. As the United States heads toward the 250th anniversary and the semi-quincentennial conversation ramps up, we wanted to ask a simple question with huge consequences: how did this document actually become America’s “national treasure”? We sit down with historian Michael Auslin, author of National Treasure: How the Declaration of Independence Made America, to follow the Declaration through its surprising timeline. We talk about Jefferson’s fast draft, Congress cutting and reshaping it, and the small edits that carried outsized meaning, including the shift toward “one people.” From there we move into the printing race that produced the Dunlap broadsides, the later parchment engrossing by scribe Timothy Matlack, and the long-running mysteries about when the signing really happened and how myths replaced messy reality. If you care about American history, civic education, and the meaning of rights and responsibilities, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review. What line from the Declaration do you think we most need to wrestle with right now? find more great books at avidreaderpress.com

    43 min
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About

mysteryhints@gmail.comListen. Learn. Engage. Welcome to Cross Word Books,  the podcast where we delve into compelling conversations with authors who illuminate history, politics, culture, faith, and art. Each episode uncovers intriguing insights and untold stories that shape our understanding of today’s world and the rich tapestry of ideas that define it. Whether you’re passionate about the cultural impact of art or curious about how history informs our political landscape, Crossword invites you to explore the diverse forces that influence human experience. Join our community of curious minds and subscribe now to embark on a journey of discovery, thoughtful reflection, and deeper connection with the world around us.

Information

  • Creator
    Michele McAloon
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    169
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Cross Word Books
  • Show Website
    Cross Word Books

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