Ep. 158 Reaching for Answers with Reginald Dwayne Betts
On today's episode we talk with poet, author, activist, and attorney Reginald Dwayne Betts (Felon). In the conversation we explore the ways we police and punish ourselves and the people around us, the conditions of worthiness, and the balance between form and word choice in poetry. Dwayne also shares about his nonprofit, Million Book Project, and the work they do to bring books into prisons.
Donate to Million Book Drive as part of The Stacks $50,000 fundraising drive.
The Stacks Book Club selection for April is The Tradition by Jericho Brown. We will discuss the book with Reginald Dwayne Betts on Wednesday April 28th.
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Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes and on Bookshop.org and Amazon
Felon by Reginald Dwayne Betts
The Destruction of Black Civilization by Chancellor Williams
A Question of Freedom by Dwayne Betts
The Tradition by Jericho Brown
Heavy by Kiese Laymon
Women Talking by Miriam Toews
Black Boy by Richard Wright
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe
A Problem from Hell by Samantha Power
Blood in the Water by Heather Ann Thompson
A Thousand Lives by Julia Scheeres
Columbine by Dave Cullen
Stakes is High by Mychal Denzel Smith
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Into the Air by Jon Krakauer
Devil in the Grove by Gilbert King
Tis by Frank McCourt
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
The Fly Swatter by Nicholas Dawidoff
The Catcher Was a Spy by Nicholas Dawidoff
All God's Dangers by Theodore Rosengarten
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
Shibumi by Trevanian
Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw
The Art of Raising a Puppy by The Monks of New Skete
How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith
Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.
The Odyssey by Homer
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez
Ghettoside by Jill Leovy
Insurrections by Rion Amilcar Scott
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Black Reconstruction by W. E. B. Du Bois
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Brothers and Keeper by John Edgar Wideman
"Ep. 143 The Best of 2020 with Christine Bollow and Oscar Almonte-Espinal" (The Stacks)
"Kamala Harris, Mass Incarceration, and Me" (Reginald Dwayne Betts, The New York Times Magazine)
"Ghazal" by Reginald Dwayne Betts
"The Short Stacks 11: Miriam Toews//Women Talking" (The Stacks)
The Freedom Takes (Million Book Project)
"Starving Child and Vulture" (Kevin Carter, 1993)
"Power" by Audre Lorde
"This Be the Verse" by Philip Larkin
"Name That Book" (Million Book Project)
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Connect with Dwayne: Twitter | Instagram | Website | Million Book Project
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