Episode · The Ezra Klein Show · 2024-09-17
Ezra Klein & Zadie Smith: books mentioned on The Ezra Klein Show
Zadie Smith on Populists, Frauds and Flip Phones
Ezra Klein recommended White Teeth by Zadie Smith, On Beauty by Zadie Smith, and Swing Time by Zadie Smith, and discussed Feel Free by Zadie Smith, The Fraud by Zadie Smith, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television by Jerry Mander, and Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. Zadie Smith recommended The Director by Daniel Kehlmann, Frantz Fanon by Adam Shatz, and The Diary of Virginia Woolf by Virginia Woolf, and discussed Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Feel Free
Feel Free by Zadie Smith is a wide-ranging collection of essays offering sharp cultural, literary, and political commentary from one of contemporary literature's most distinctive voices.
Discussed“reading the introduction to Zade Smith's 2018 book of essays feel free”
Where to get it
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White Teeth
White Teeth by Zadie Smith is a vibrant debut novel that explores multicultural contemporary London through the intersecting lives of various immigrant families.
Recommended“if you've not read her back catalog like white teeth and on beauty and swing time I almost Envy you”
Where to get it
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On Beauty
On Beauty by Zadie Smith is a contemporary novel that explores family dynamics, academic rivalries, cultural identity, and morality against the backdrop of a university town in New England.
Recommended“if you've not read her back catalog like white teeth and on beauty and swing time I almost Envy you”
Where to get it
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Swing Time
Swing Time by Zadie Smith is an intricate novel that explores themes of race, class, friendship, and cultural identity through the lens of young girls dreaming of becoming tap dancers.
Recommended“if you've not read her back catalog like white teeth and on beauty and swing time I almost Envy you”
Where to get it
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The Fraud
The Fraud by Zadie Smith is a rich historical novel set in Victorian London during the era of Charles Dickens, centering around the famous Tichborne claimant case and themes of complicity and imposture.
Discussed“still I was surprised when I finally read the fraud the book she released last year”
Where to get it
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Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is a classic novel that explores themes of love, class, and marriage in 19th-century England through the spirited relationship between Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy.
Discussed“so like if I'm teaching Pride and Prejudice this is not a battle between woke thought and unwoke thought”
Where to get it
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Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television
Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television by Jerry Mander is a classic media critique that argues television is inherently harmful to human psychology, culture, and democratic discourse regardless of the content it broadcasts.
Discussed“and there's these books on like the you know four Arguments for the elimination of television”
Where to get it
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Amusing Ourselves to Death
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman is a media critique arguing that the shift from a print-based culture to a television-dominated society degrades public discourse by turning serious political and intellectual subjects into mere entertainment.
Discussed“just a straightforward argument in in Neil postman's great book amusing ourselves to death where he says that the thing television is going to do to politics is make us believe politics should always be entertaining”
Where to get it
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Tell Me Everything
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout brings back several beloved literary creations to explore the intricate dynamics of small-town life and human connection.
Discussed“her last novel is called tell me anything and there's a line or tell me everything maybe”
Where to get it
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The Director
The Director by Daniel Kehlmann is a historical fiction novel inspired by the complex life and career of renowned Austrian filmmaker G.W.
Recommended“well right now I'm reading the director which is by my Austrian friend Daniel kilman It's a Wonderful book about uh the filmmaker WG Pabst”
Where to get it
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Frantz Fanon
Frantz Fanon by Adam Shatz is a biographical examination of the life and legacy of the radical socialist psychiatrist and anti-colonial thinker.
Recommended“I am reading another friend's book Adam shatz on Fanon who was the radical socialist psychiatrist and that's a really really great book about F on”
Where to get it
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The Diary of Virginia Woolf
The Diary of Virginia Woolf collects the intimate daily writings of the pioneering modernist author across multiple decades and volumes.
Recommended“and the other thing I've read recently which I keep on banging on about is all of Virginia wolfes Diaries um there's five volumes”
Where to get it
