Author Erik Larson talks Churchill, Splendid and the Vile

Larson appeared in Lancaster last weekend

• Scott LaMar
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Scott LaMar has worked in both radio and television for more than four decades.
  
  Currently, LaMar is the Host and Executive Producer of The Spark program on WITF-FM, 89.5 & 93.3 in Harrisburg, Pa.
  
  Previously, LaMar was WITF TV’s Sr. Public Affairs producer and produced the station’s award-winning weekly public affairs TV program, Smart Talk.
  
  In addition to his on-air duties, LaMar has moderated political candidate debates, including those for candidates running for Pennsylvania governor and the U.S. Senate and was a regular contributor to BBC World News TV before and after the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.
  
  LaMar often emcees or moderates local events and has gone as far as California to emcee a national event.
  
  The American Society of Civil Engineers honored LaMar with their national Excellence in Journalism award in 2020. He has been nominated for five Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
  
  LaMar and The Spark have been recognized throughout the Central Pennsylvania community including ADVOZ Lancaster’s “Dignity in Dialogue Award”, the South-Central Assembly’s “Regional Citizen Award” and was named a “Humanitarian Hero” by The Humane Society of the United States/Pennsylvania.
  
  A native of Coatesville, Pa., LaMar has also worked as a broadcast news anchor, sports play-by-play announcer and manager.

Airdate: Thursday, February 24, 2022
Full Conversation:

Erik Larson is often called one of America’s greatest storytellers. He has several best-selling books that do just that – tell great stories.

In his latest book, The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family and Defiance During the Blitz, Larson set out to write about the resilience of the British people during 57 straight nights of German bombing at the outset of World War II in 1940. The story does that, but Larson said as he started to write the book, he kept being drawn to Britain’s new Prime Minster Winston Churchill.

Today, Churchill is viewed as one of the world’s iconic leaders during the war. But more than 80 years later, Larson has new stories that came from diaries, original archival documents and secret intelligence reports.

The Splendid and the Vile has just been released in paperback and to mark the release, Larson recently appeared at Lancaster Country Day School’s Gardner Theater as part of a Midtown Scholar Bookstore event to discuss it. Smart Talk was there and you’ll hear that conversation on Thursday’s program.