Connie Cronley offers "A Life on Fire: Oklahoma's Kate Barnard" (Encore)

On this edition of ST, we revisit an interview that first aired in the fall of 2021. At that time, we spoke with the beloved Tulsa-based writer Connie Cronley (who's also one of our longtime commentators). Cronley joined us to discuss her then-new book, "A Life on Fire," a fascinating and well-researched biography of one Kate Barnard (1875-1930). Little-known today but very active and influential in her early-20th-century prime, Barnard was a tireless political reformer -- and the first woman named to statewide office in Oklahoma -- who championed the poor, workers, children, the imprisoned, and the mentally ill. Barnard also contributed greatly to the Progressive aspects of our state's 1907 constitution, and she likewise advocated for compulsory education, prison reform, better mental-health care, and child-labor regulations.