The Artful Periscope – The Nimble Art of Storytelling Larry Davidson

How many threads intersect and impact the world of sports and the history of a country? On this episode, Larry invites author Ethan Scheiner to the show to discuss hisnewest bookThe Freedom to Win: A Cold War Story of the Courageous Hockey Team That Fought the Soviets for the Soul of Its People—And Olympic Gold. Freedom to Win follows the story of the 1969 Czechoslovakian World Ice Hockey Championship team who used The Olympics to protest Soviet Russia’s oppression. Larry and Ethan discuss the brothers at the heart of this story, Jiří and Jaroslav Holík, whose father had trained them to become world class athletes to escape the increasing influence of the Communist party. They also talk about the larger political situation in Czechoslovakia at the time, including Alexander Dubcek’s relaxing of political censorship and the Soviet Union’s military response. Ethan also explains the significance of the replica hockey jersey he’s wearing, which is based on the jerseys the Czechoslovakian hockey team altered to protest the Soviet occupation.



After the break, Larry sits down with Jon Langmead, author of Ballyhoo!: The Rough housers, Con Artists, and Wild men Who Invented Professional Wrestling. Larry and John discuss the history of wrestling styles, the development of over-the-top choreography moves, the public’s changing perception of wrestling stars from athletes to entertainers and the physical impact of wrestling on the long-term health of famous wrestlers.

If words are threads in a storyline, where do they take us? This week on The Artful Periscope, Larry conducts a double interview with E.A.(Ed) Aymar, author of When She Left, and Bruce Borgos, author of The Bitter Past. Together, the group discusses what they enjoy the most about storytelling – strong characters, interesting subplots, and settings as characters. Both Ed and Bruce discuss their love for delving into the secret lives of their characters, and the challenge writers face creating flawed characters that are still interesting to readers. Then the discussion turns towards their favorite authorial voices, including Nelson DeMille and Barack Obama.





After the break, Larry welcomes Jeff Circle, author of The Dossier, to the show. Larry and Jeff discuss Jeff’s career as a federal special investigator, police offer and an intelligence analyst for the United States military. As an interviewer, Larry asks Jeff about the art of interrogation and the unique relationship between the person asking the questions and the person answering them. Jeff discusses his experiences as a federal investigator and how it gave him the skills to become a successful interviewer, interviewing authors about their books and the writing process. Jeff also discusses his military experiences, how September 11th inspired him to take action, and his current love for the writing process and the craft of composing a novel.

How many threads are brought together in criminal justice reform? On this week’s episode of The Artful Periscope,,Larry sits down with Colleen P. Eren, Associate Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at William Paterson University and author of Reform Nation which discusses the First Step Act– a surprising piece of legislation signed off by Donald Trump on the verge of a government shutdown and it’s effect on prison reform in The United States. Colleen traces her interest in reformation to her experience at her catholic high school, where she heard a talk from Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking. She became involved with the anti-death penalty movement while pursuing a degree in sociology at Hofstra University. Larry and Colleen discuss the history of mass incarceration and its boom during the Nixon Era, which increased the prison population from 250,000 to 1.2 million. Colleen explains the connection between mass incarceration and institutionalized racism, and the rise of mass incarceration after the end of The Jim Crow Laws.  She also addresses the increasing tension between police and the public following the BLM movement. In a country fiercely divided by right and left, Colleen advocates for cooperation across the aisle to support prison reform initiatives and program funding.

How many threads take us behind the scenes of the basketball world? In this week’s episode of The Artful Periscope,Larry sits down with author Rich Cohen to discuss his latest book, When the Game was War: The NBA’s Greatest Season. The book chronicles the NBA season of 1987 and the basketball stars that dominated the game. Rich discusses his childhood growing up with his basketball coach father and his gradual interest in high school basketball. Then Rich and Larry recall the hidden personal stories of basketball greats such as, Isaiah Thomas’s talented older brother who passed away after a drug overdose, Bob Hope’s unheard of $1,000,000 offer to Larry Bird, and the tragic rivalry between Isaiah Thomas and his former best friend Magic Johnson.









After the break, Larry welcomes Michelle J. Manno to the show to discuss her most recent book Denied: Women, Sports, and the Contradictions of Identity. Michelle, a sociologist and Assistant Provost for Diversity and Inclusion at Northwestern University, highlights the journey of female athletes through a male dominated industry. By interviewing anonymous female basketball players at the college level, Michelle discusses the fine line female players must walk between masculinity and femininity, how the playful filming of a music video during a winter break led the girls to face uncomfortable truths about how the industry weaponizes sexuality, the struggle of maintaining good mental health in the face of physical exhaustion and the importance of intersectionality between race, sexual orientation, and feminism.

How many threads do storytellers weave together?  Joining Larry on the show is return guest S. J. Rozan to talk about her latest work Mayors of New York.  S. J. shares that she has a love affair with New York City and wants to share that love with the reader.  Larry asks if part of the book was influenced by Jeffrey Epstein and S. J. shares that she is interested in people of a lower social strata.  S. J. explains the concept of a character being the “subject or the object” of a narrative.  Larry shares his affection for one of S. J.’s character’s mothers and how he missed not having her in this most recent work. Then the conversation evolves into first generation immigrants and how a the place they settle in becomes a hub for their home culture, and the food seems to be the largest representation of their homelands.  There was also a great discussion of Martin Luther King as this episode was recorded the day after the holiday.

How are the threads of family history interwoven into storylines?  In this episode, Larry checks off his bucket list by being joined by Pulitzer prize winning author, Stephen Hunter to talk about his new work Front Sight.  Larry and Stephen explore the origin of character names and “if you don’t get the name right, you don’t get the character right”. Larry also posits that when a grandfather passes away so does an entire library and Stephen shares what he learned from his grandfather.  In weaving and crafting a story, Stephen shares his thoughts on planning plotlines, especially since he feels like he just jumped out of a Super Sabre fighter with blue shade shoes on from the 50’s. Larry also questions whether or not our history is a prologue.