Person
Every book Dwayne Betts recommended on podcasts
Key facts
- Dwayne Betts has recommended or discussed 14 books on podcasts, as of June 3, 2024.
- Dwayne Betts has talked about books on 2 podcasts, as of June 3, 2024.
- Those books came up in 4 episodes, as of June 3, 2024.
- The 3 books Dwayne Betts has mentioned in the most episodes, as of June 3, 2024: The Black Poets, Sophie's World and Invisible Man.
- The latest episode with a book mention from Dwayne Betts aired on June 3, 2024.
Updated
Across 2 podcasts. Every show Dwayne Betts appears on, in one place — not just one.
Dwayne Betts’s most recommended books
- The Black Poets by Dudley Randall
- Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
- Barkskins by Annie Proulx
- Black Boy by Richard Wright
- I Have a Dream by Rachid Ba
- Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
- Juneteenth by Ralph Ellison
- Letter from Birmingham Jail by MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
- Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
Dwayne Betts appeared as a guest on programs such as The Book Review and EconTalk, where he shared reflections on literature, philosophy, his experiences with the justice system, and his journey into writing poetry. Throughout these discussions, he mentioned several books that shaped his life and worldview. He frequently recalled receiving a copy of Dudley Randall's anthology The Black Poets when a fellow inmate slid the book under his cell door while he was held in solitary confinement, a moment that marked his introduction to poetry. While discussing speeches and civil rights history, he spoke about I Have a Dream, describing how the volume was paginated and laid out to mirror Martin Luther King Jr.'s spoken cadence, and he discussed successfully lobbying to write the introduction for a collection featuring King's Letter from Birmingham Jail. He also reflected on his educational background prior to prison, discussing how a high school teacher introduced him to Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World, an introductory philosophy text that follows a young girl meeting various historical philosophers. He recounted attempting to request Sophie's World while incarcerated in county jail, which resulted in his teacher accidentally providing William Styron's Sophie's Choice instead. He explained that reading Sophie's Choice at age sixteen profoundly impacted him, blew his mind, and permanently altered his perspective on the world.
Books recommended by Dwayne Betts
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The Black Poets
The Black Poets by Dudley Randall is an influential and expansive poetry anthology that preserves and celebrates foundational works of African American verse.
Discussed“the memory that endures is the moment a prisoner whose name I've never known slid Dudley Randalls the black poets under my cell door in the hole”
Where to get it
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Sophie's World
Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder is a popular philosophical novel that tells the story of a young girl who is introduced to the major thinkers of the Western philosophical canon.
Discussed“he wouldn't introduced me to this book called um called um Sophie's World and it was like this 1500 word um book it was a young girl who who ended up meeting like all the great philosophers right and it was an intro to philosophy book”
Where to get it
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Invisible Man
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison is a landmark twentieth-century American novel that explores the complex themes of identity, race, and societal invisibility through the eyes of an unnamed Black narrator moving from the American South to Harlem.
Discussed“um because and i'll talk about invisible man in a second but he's the kind of person who put a lot of pressure on himself to write the first book”
Where to get it
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Barkskins
Barkskins by Annie Proulx is an expansive historical fiction novel that follows several generations of families clearing the great forests of North America.
Discussed“he said man but I picked up this book bar skins he's like you know this novel man it's a boat a town it's just like the town where my family comes from”
Where to get it
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Black Boy
Black Boy by Richard Wright is a powerful autobiographical chronicle detailing the author's harrowing upbringing in the American South, marked by systemic racism, poverty, and isolation, followed by his awakening through reading and his eventual escape to Chicago.
Discussed“it was sort of that like enough about the holocaust i thought like what book will i choose and and you know i was thinking about rape because i was i was reading it in the moment right richard writes black boy and i and i chose”
Where to get it
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I Have a Dream
Discussed“and the first book was I have a dream and it was the introduction was written um by King's children and and it's cool the book is actually paginated and laid out as king spoke so you could actually read it and kind of embody his voice almost almost like a poem”
Where to get it
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Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach is an allegorical novella about a seagull learning about flight, self-perfection, and breaking free from the rigid conformity of his flock.
Discussed“I would sneak a booking to myself at night and read it and I got all caught up in like you know like the Jonathan Livingston Seagull Books and so um I had them in my cell”
Where to get it
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Juneteenth
Discussed“and his his second novel juneteenth uh was never completed but famously as he was working on it and delayed and delayed and delayed it was like the whole manuscript burned in the fire”
Where to get it
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Letter from Birmingham Jail
Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr.
Discussed“and they said yeah letter from a Birmingham Jail and I said what kind of fool am I and and I said wait a minute let me ask you something because they had people writing introductions I said is anybody WR the introduction for that one CU I should I should write that one”
Where to get it
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Man's Search for Meaning
Man's Search for Meaning is a profound psychological memoir by Viktor E.
Discussed“and i've read other books that you know i mean we sent 1500 copies of um of um franco's book man search for meaning”
Where to get it
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Sophie's Choice
Sophie's Choice by William Styron is a deeply moving novel examining the immense moral burdens and harrowing historical weight of the Holocaust through the agonizing decisions forced upon its central character.
Discussed“I think you want to read Sophie's Choice and that's the same book and you know what I'm like 16 and it's like whoa is me and then I read Sophie's choice and my world is blown and I go from from Sophie's Choice to the confessions of that turning”
Where to get it
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The Chosen
The Chosen by Chaim Potok is a compelling contemporary novel that explores the complex dynamics of friendship, faith, and cultural identity within a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn.
Discussed“um and then i think no i mean i don't i read the chosen you know i read i've read a few other books you know and i connected with the chosen”
Where to get it
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The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
The Love Songs of W.E.B.
Discussed“honoree Jeffers uh I think her book won the national book of world but um the the love songs of W.E.B Du Bois you know her publisher gave us like 30 copies and we sent it to a group of guys in a prison in Texas”
Where to get it
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The Stand
Stephen King's monumental post-apocalyptic epic The Stand details the devastating sweep of a weaponized influenza strain that wipes out the vast majority of humanity, leaving survivors to choose sides in a final conflict between good and evil.
Discussed“my oldest son he loves the loves Stephen King and he likes to book the stand and he was like I want you to read this and it's like 1500 pages and I'm like I don't want to read this but um I'm reading it and I'm finding it fascinating”
Where to get it
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Injustice and the "Letter from Birmingham Jail" (with Dwayne Betts) | EconTalk | 2024-06-03 | 2 |
| Dwayne Betts on Beauty, Prison, and Redaction | EconTalk | 2023-01-23 | 9 |
| Dwayne Betts on Ellison, Levi, and Human Suffering | EconTalk | 2022-05-02 | 6 |
| Poems About the Challenges of Life After Prison | The Book Review | 2019-12-13 | 1 |
Other mentions (5: passing, ad reads, own books)
“I had read the the books about mass incarceration I had read worse than slavery slavery by another name I read these things”
“I had read the the books about mass incarceration I had read worse than slavery slavery by another name I read these things”
“he wrote shadowing act and going to the territory”
“he wrote shadowing act and going to the territory”
“one was juneteenth and one was like three days um before the shooting”