Host Marcia Franklin talks with historian David Kennedy about Depression-era policies and whether they have parallels to the modern financial crisis.

Kennedy, professor emeritus at Stanford University, is known for integrating both economic and cultural analyses in his works about particular historical eras, as he did in Freedom from Fear, a book about the Great Depression in the United States. That book won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000.

Kennedy is also the author of several other books, including Over Here: The First World War and American Society, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1981.

He and Franklin discuss the differences between the financial crises in the Great Depression and today, as well as issues that concern him including the growing gap he sees between civilian and military society. Kennedy also talks about the priorities for the Bill Lane Center for the American West, of which he was a co-director.

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Originally Aired: 12/23/2010

Marcia Franklin interviews award-winning author and New York Times columnist Tim Egan. Egan, who was part of a team of New York Times reporters that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2001, has covered the American West for more than 20 years. He talks with Franklin about how the region is changing socially and politically. He also discusses the struggles of the Dust Bowl survivors of the 1930s, whose stories he chronicles in The Worst Hard Time. That work won a National Book Award in 2006.

Originally aired: 11/23/2012

Host Marcia Franklin talks with author Margaret Atwood about her work, which includes the bestselling novel, "The Handmaid's Tale" and its sequel, "The Testaments." Atwood also shares her thoughts on whether the United States could head towards totalitarianism. The conversation was recorded at the 2024 Sun Valley Writers' Conference.

It's one of his most beloved tales, but was written in a hurry and under duress.

On this holiday episode of Dialogue, Marcia Franklin talks with Boise writer Samantha Silva about "A Christmas Carol," penned by Charles Dickens in 1843. In her debut novel, "Mr. Dickens and His Carol," Silva melds fact with fiction to imagine how Dickens came up with the plot for his now-classic story.

Of Silva's work, Pulitzer Prize-winner and Boise resident Anthony Doerr says, "It's as foggy and haunted and redemptive as the original; it's all heart, and I read it in a couple of ebullient, Christmassy gulps."

Silva talks with Franklin about what drew her to Dickens, how she researched her book, why she thinks "A Christmas Carol" crystallizes Dickens' ethos, and why the story is still relevant.

A graduate of Boise State University and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Silva is a screenwriter who has sold projects to Paramount, Universal, New Line Cinema, and TNT. A film version of her short story, "The Big Burn," won the One Potato Short Screenplay Competition at the 2017 Sun Valley Film Festival and will be released in 2018. Silva will also be writing another novel.

Host Marcia Franklin continues her conversation with Idaho-born playwright Samuel Hunter, focusing on the craft of playwriting, some of the actors he admires, and a new project he's working on that's not for the stage.

Hunter, a Moscow, ID native, is the recipient of a 2014 MacArthur Fellowship, known colloquially as the "Genius Grant." He also won an Obie Award in 2011.

Originally Aired: 10/16/2015

He's only 34, but has already won some of the most prestigious awards for creativity in the country. On this episode of Dialogue, Marcia Franklin interviews playwright and Moscow, ID native Samuel Hunter. Hunter is the recipient of a 2014 MacArthur Fellowship, known colloquially as the "Genius Grant." He also won an Obie Award in 2011.

Hunter talks about what it was like to win the MacArthur, and what he plans to do with the time and money it affords him to dedicate to his craft. He also discusses the evolution of his works, which have been performed all over the country, and the role of Idaho in his plays.

Originally Aired: 10/09/2015

On this edition of Dialogue, host Marcia Franklin talks with New York Times bestselling author Mark Kurlansky. Kurlansky, who is known for his "microhistories" of objects and events we often take for granted, will speak about some of his works, including "Salt: A World History," "Cod, A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World," "1968: The Year that Rocked the World," "The Basque History of the World," and "Non-Violence: 25 Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea."

Originally aired: 03/27/2008

Host Marcia Franklin talks with author Colum McCann about his books since their last conversation in 2011, which include "American Mother," "Apeirogon," and his most recent novel, "Twist." The two also discuss McCann's nonprofit, Narrative 4, which uses storytelling to bring youth from different backgrounds together. The conversation was taped at the 2025 Sun Valley Writers' Conference.