What is a think tank, and how do they operate? One of the more prominent ones is the Chicago-based Heartland Institute. Its president Joe Bast joined us in 2013 to talk about some of the issues they deal with, the business of running a think tank, and the differences in running one now versus 20 years ago.

Andy Ferguson, a senior editor at The Weekly Standard, joined us to discuss some of his more recent articles, including a fascinating piece on the shunning of philosopher Thomas Nagel for daring to go against the grain of his colleagues.

Donald Rumsfeld has been a Congressman, White House Chief of Staff, CEO of numerous corporations, and served as Secretary of Defense in two different administrations. Over his many years of government and corporate life, he’s become known for what he calls his rules – a collection of stories, quotes, sayings and other lessons useful to anyone in a leadership position. Now he’s collected these rules into a most informative book called, what else, Rumsfeld’s Rules: Leadership Lessons in Business, Politics, War, and Life. We talk with him about his time in government, the war in Iraq, and how these rules have guided him through his various posts and challenges in life.

We’ve been told over the years that the world, and America, is becoming overcrowded. But more recently, it’s been proven that those guesses were quite wrong, and in fact, U.S. population is on the verge of shrinking. Jonathan Last, author of What to Expect When No One’s Expecting, says that the danger we face isn’t overpopulation, but underpopulation. Without a growing population, we confront a drastic change in our culture, politics and society. The trend will be hard to reverse.

In the excellent new book The Savior Generals, written by one of our favorite guests, Victor Davis Hanson, we look at five different generals and how they met the challenges they faced on the battlefield. Ranging from the Athenian general Themistocles to General William Tecumseh Sherman to General David Petraeus, Hanson shows us a common theme that runs through these heralded military leaders. It’s a fascinating look at leadership and military tactics, and how they shaped the reputations of these great men.

As we entered the Memorial Day weekend of 2013 and remembered the sacrifices that so many have made, we also remembered what makes America, America. One of those things is most certainly the sport of baseball, the great American pastime. We talked with Eldon Ham, then author of the new book All the Babe’s Men: Baseball’s Greatest Home Run Seasons and How They Changed America.

We talked with Eldon about the early home run sluggers, how America shaped baseball and baseball shaped America, and how the game has changed through the steroid era.

Was the Arab Spring really the surge of democracy that many in the media and government made it out to be? Not according to Andrew McCarthy, author of Spring Fever. He argues that for many who practice Islam, freedom simply doesn’t have a place, and the values of the West are at odds with this worldview.

Our 30th President, Calvin Coolidge, is often listed by historians in the bottom quarter of Presidential rankings. Does he belong there? Amity Shlaes, the author of the excellent new biography Coolidge, certainly doesn’t believe so. We talked in 2013 with Shlaes about her new book, the life and times of a severely misunderstood President, and Shlaes’ role in furthering the understanding of conservative economic policy.

What goes on in and around Chicago? We talk edwith one of the finest feature writers in the business, the Chicago Tribune’s Ron Grossman. Topics included the quality of undergraduate education, the overrun of the academy by political correctness (including a story about one academic’s quest to question the sexuality of Sherlock Holmes), and the political history of Chicago.

In our inaugural show, we talk with Mark Steyn, author of the book After America and a favorite guest of The Milt Rosenberg Show. We talk with Mark about the host of scandals plaguing the Obama administration, the Boston Bombing suspect, and the changing cultural face of America.