Books and More with William Cooper

You read that right. A substantive debate into one of the most controversial legal decisions in American history.
DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY.
will-cooper.com

Website: https://defector.com/author/ray-ratto

Jonathan is a bestselling author and one of the UK's most respected and widely read journalists. We discuss his new book, The Traitors Circle: The True Story of a Secret Resistance Network in Nazi Germany—and the Spy Who Betrayed Them. An Amazon Best Book of the Year for 2025, Mick Herron calls it "An astonishing true story of courage, love, and betrayal, told with the verve of a thriller. Freedland is a master at weaving spellbinding entertainments drawn from forgotten corners of history."
https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-traitors-circle-jonathan-freedland?variant=43710103093282
 

As Donald Trump goes after Jim Comey and others, this serious problem for the American polity gets bigger. "America's political energy should be channeled into winning elections and governing effectively--not sending political rivals to jail."
will-cooper.com

Here's Chapter 1 of my new novel. https://www.amazon.com/Trial-Donald-H-Rumsfeld-Novel-ebook/dp/B0FCG4M4N3
"Cooper’s writing is bold and intelligent. The mysterious narrator adds intrigue, and the courtroom sequences are written with striking tension that keeps readers hooked." Novels' Nest
 

Law Professor Richard Epstein (one of the most-cited legal scholars of all time) joins to discuss the war powers. His new book The Myth of Birthright Citizenship: What the Fourteenth Amendment Really Says comes out May 1.
 

As shines through in the interview, Professor Shaefer has a clear-eyed and deeply informed view of one of the most important--and neglected--topics in American society: poverty alleviation. His work has been cited in the New York Times, Washington Post, The Economist, and The Atlantic, and he has been featured on such programs as PBS NewsHour, Marketplace, 1A, All Things Considered, and CNBC’s Nightly Business Report. His book with Kathryn Edin, "$2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America," was named one of the 100 Notable Books of 2015 by the New York Times Book Review, and won the Hillman Prize for Book Journalism among other awards.
#economics
 
DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY.
will-cooper.com

Max and I discuss the most consequential topics in technology today, including AI and cybersecurity. In addition to his work running the technology section at Fast Company, his writing has also appeared in publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, Wired, and The Guardian. He is the recipient of two Society of Professional Journalists awards and his 2016 essay on diners was anthologized in Best Food Writing.
https://www.fastcompany.com/user/mufberg
#artificialintelligence #cybersecurity
 
DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY.
will-cooper.com
 
 
 
 

Ken is the lead NFL reporter for The New York Times. We discuss the recent NFL meetings, the upcoming draft, and his hit book, Every Day Is Sunday: How Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, and Roger Goodell Turned the NFL into a Cultural & Economic Juggernaut.
It's a great read. The NFL is, indeed, a juggernaut.
 

Ilona joins to discuss her tremendous new novel FIVE, out on May 5, 2026.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/803094/five-by-ilona-bannister/
Book Description
Five lives. Five stories. Four will live—one will die. Who it will be? In this slow-burn masterpiece of psychological fiction, the choice is all yours.
“Five is a gripping, chilling story that asks difficult questions about judgement, forgiveness, and the notion of cause and effect.”—Chris Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author of All the Colors of the Dark
Have you ever tried to pass the time by imagining the lives of the strangers standing next to you? Ilona Bannister’s Five introduces readers to five seemingly random people waiting for a train. But these are not just any five people. From the beginning we know that one of them is going to die soon. Very soon. In five minutes the next train to London will arrive, killing one of them. But before this happens you will learn their stories.
None of these people are saints. Readers might fall in love with the beautiful young man who is on the verge of gambling his life away. They may pity the cantankerous old woman who has fallen to the ground yet is refusing help. Perhaps readers will look away from the child throwing a tantrum. Or judge his mother, who must surely be to blame. And some will be curiously compelled by the successful and damaged businessman orbiting them all.
These are the candidates for this morning’s misfortune. But they don’t know it. Only you know. And you, our complicit reader, will not be able to resist deciding who deserves to walk away, and who deserves only five more minutes to live.
An incredibly original novel that breaks the fourth wall and asks the reader to be judge, jury, and executioner, Five looks at some of the most complicated issues of contemporary life: motherhood, disability, addiction. Every stranger has a story. And in Ilona Bannister’s skillful hands, five people’s stories come together to create an unforgettable novel.