In this episode of Library Talks, 4th generation Russ & Daughters co-owners Niki Russ Federman & Josh Russ join the podcast to talk about their book Russ & Daughters: 100 Years of Appetizing with fellow writer Joshua David Stein.

From the legendary New York destination for Jewish appetizing, a beautiful and inspiring cookbook that encompasses history, tradition, and absolutely delicious food.

In 1907, a Jewish immigrant named Joel Russ landed in New York City, where he took a pushcart of herring and built a legacy that would pass down through fathers and daughters (and sons and husbands and wives) for more than a hundred years. Four generations later, the ancestral heart of Russ & Daughters continues to bustle on the Lower East Side, with three more locations throughout the city.

In this episode of Library Talks, writer Amanda Vaill joins the podcast to discuss her new book Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution. Discover America's Founding Era anew through the lives of the Schuyler sisters, two women as formidable as the famous men they loved, married, and mothered.

Amanda Vaill worked on Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution during her 2018-2019 Fellowship at the Library's Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers. She will discuss her book with biographer and critic Bill Goldstein.

In this episode of Library Talks, science writer Mindy Weisberger discusses her new book Rise of the Zombie Bugs: The Surprising Science of Parasitic Mind-Control with Neuroscientist Paula Croxson.

Zombies aren't just the stuff of nightmares. Explore the fascinating world of real-life insect zombification.

In Rise of the Zombie Bugs, Mindy Weisberger explores the eerie yet fascinating phenomenon of real-life zombification in the insect class and among other invertebrates. Zombifying parasites reproduce by rewriting their victims' neurochemistry, transforming them into the "walking dead": armies of cicadas, spiders, and other hosts that helplessly follow a zombifier's commands, living only to serve the parasite's needs until death's sweet release (and often beyond). Blending scientific rigor with a flair for the macabre, Weisberger takes readers on a global journey—from Brazilian rainforests to European meadows—to uncover the dark secrets of parasitic manipulation.