Episode · The Book Review · 2024-07-18
Books mentioned on Power and Punishment
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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A Colony in a Nation
Discussed“this is something that in Rick pearlstein's biographies of Nixon comes through that he he had a real knack rhetorically”
Where to get it
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The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a classic American novel set in 17th-century Puritan Boston that examines guilt, sin, and public shaming through the trials of Hester Prynne.
Discussed“so like The Scarlet Letter for instance that's this foundational text of American punitiveness right”
Where to get it
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Between the World and Me
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates is a bestselling epistolary book written as a letter from the author to his teenage son, exploring the reality of growing up Black in America.
Discussed“James Baldwins the fire next time was sort of an inspiration for tanahi coats's Memoir between the world and me”
Where to get it
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The fire next time
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin is a searing and brilliant collection of essays examining race, religion, and American identity through letters and personal reflection.
Discussed“James Baldwins the fire next time was sort of an inspiration for tanahi coats's Memoir between the world and me”
Where to get it
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Giovanni's Room
Giovanni's Room is a 1956 novel by James Baldwin that explores the complex romantic and existential struggles of an American man living in Paris.
Discussed“one kind of amazing thing I saw was a a teleplay I think it was sort of a screen television screenplay adaptation of giovan's room his great 1956 novel”
Where to get it
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Bento's Sketchbook
Bento's Sketchbook by John Berger is a reflective and philosophical work blending prose, drawing, and meditations on perception, inspired by the seventeenth-century lens grinder and philosopher Baruch Spinoza.
Recommended“I am reading this week Bento Sketchbook by John Burger a book that I have pretended to have read for many years”
Where to get it
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Ways of Seeing
Ways of Seeing by John Berger is a foundational book of art criticism that examines how visual media and cultural conditioning shape human perception.
Discussed“and if people you know have read any John Burger he wrote this very influential book called ways of seeing and he's an art critic”
Where to get it
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The Idiot
The Idiot by Elif Batuman is a brilliant coming-of-age novel that follows a young woman navigating her freshman year at Harvard and her nascent, epistolary romance with an older student.
Discussed“and she has a big novel out this year called the idiot which parl also just reviewed in the book revieww also a very lovely piece”
Where to get it
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The belly of Paris
The Belly of Paris by Émile Zola is a sweeping naturalistic novel depicting the vibrant, bustling world of the Parisian central markets during the Second Empire.
Recommended“so I'm reading the book that I started last week Emil zolah is the belly of Paris”
Where to get it
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Germinal
Germinal by Émile Zola is a classic, gritty realist novel that portrays the harsh lives and grueling struggles of coal miners in nineteenth-century France during a major labor strike.
Discussed“and it's funny it's very different I think I talked about this last week from germinal the only other Zola that I've read”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (3) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“Chris Hayes will be here to talk about his new book a colony in a nation”
“Chris Hayes author of a colony in a nation Chris thanks so much for being here”
“and it starts with a sentence about the Magic Mountain by Tomas”