Episode
Season 5 Ep 3 | Tim Wendel | Baseball, History, and Craft
- Published
- Jan 6, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3938
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Summary
In this episode, I speak with award-winning author and Johns Hopkins writing professor Tim Wendel, whose books include Summer of ’68 , Castro’s Curveball , Cancer Crossings , and his newest novel Rebel Falls . Tim is productive, well-read, and well-traveled, so our conversation inexorably covered a great deal of ground, and some topics include: * Baseball & storytelling: How the game shaped Tim’s life as a writer; the mythology of Bull Durham ; the legend of Steve Dalkowski. * Substack & citizen historians: Why Tim believes everyday people must help preserve historical truth, especially amid 2025’s wave of historical erasure. * History as many stories: Why the meaning of history changes depending on who tells it—and why authoritarian regimes always try to control the narrative. * Travel as antidote to prejudice: In the spirit of Mark Twain, how Tim’s global reporting career shaped his worldview and fuels empathy. * Censorship & cultural retreat: The rise of anti-Humanities rhetoric, the danger of “whitewashing” civil rights history, and why cultural amnesia is alarming. * Artists and athletes as change agents: Jackie Robinson, jazz musicians, and others who changed America while facing enormous resistance. * Teaching writing today: Tim’s advice to students, the challenges and opportunities of AI, and why craft still matters. I hope you find Tim as refreshing and informative as I do: he’s versatile, curious, and passionate–and cares deeply about why stories matter, and how to tell them. Tim Wendel’s books include SUMMER OF ‘68, CASTRO’S CURVEBALL, CANCER CROSSINGS and other works. His latest, the historical novel REBEL FALLS, won the W.Y. Boyd Award from the American Library Association. A longtime writer-in-residence at Johns Hopkins University, his stories and columns…