Charles Frazier comes across as a writer in love with America. Beyond the rolling plains and purple mountains majesty, he loves the stories of average Americans in extraordinary times and it comes across in everything he writes. His latest novel, The Trackers, is the most modern novel he has ever written and it takes place 100 years ago. His writing captures the optimism of the American ideal, and his descriptive powers continue to astound. We talk to him about his latest, and what it was about the Great Depression that inspired the book. This week, we also include an interview with Dave Eggers and Ninive Calegari, the two founders of 826, a non profit that teaches kids to express themselves through writing.

Books mentioned in this podcast:

• The Trackers by Charles Frazier
• Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
• Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier
• Varina by Charles Frazier
• Nightwoods by Charles Frazier
• The Significance of the Frontier in American History by Frederick Jackson Turner
• Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
• The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy
• No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
• The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke
• A Private Cathedral by James Lee Burke
• Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
• Teaching a Stone to Talk by Annie Dillard

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