American Writers (One Hundred Pages at a Time)

Episode 111: Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars (2)

The finale of my review of Charles W. Chesnutt's "The House Behind the Cedars." The novel shifts from being about the color line to being about sexual harassment and the struggles of a young woman in the workplace. Very important to revist today.

Philip K. Dick Book Club: 87.2: Time Out of Joint (2)

Part 2 of my review of Time Out of Joint by Philip K. Dick.

Episiode 110: Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars (1)

In "The House Behind the Cedars" Charles Chesnutt takes a deep look at the color line. The result is a brilliant novel on race, but also gender and the harassment faced by young women.

Philip K. Dick Book Club: 87.1: Time Out of Joint (1)

Part one of my review of "Time Out of Joint", Dick's 1959 novel about a man realizing that the world he lives in is a false front. This is one of Dick's best and maybe the best 1950s novel he wrote.

Episode 109: Charles W. Chesnutt, The Wife of His Youth (2)

Part two of my review of the stories in Charles Chesnutt's collection "The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color Line." A lot of great stories here, making a great introduction to the ideas of Chesnutt about the post-Reconstruction South.

Philip K. Dick Book Club: 86: Null-O

The sociopathy of the technocrat and other issues are explored in Philip K. Dick's short story "Null-O." Dick had to sit on this one a while before publishing it, but it is notable as the only publication of his in 1958.

Philip K. Dick Book Club: 85: Misadjustment

This is a story by Philip K Dick about posthumanism, with an interesting twist. They have the ability to change reality. So in "Misadjustment" do we have the best possible path to utopia?

Episode 108: Charles W. Chesnutt, The Wife of His Youth (1)

And now we look at some of the stories in Charles Chesnutt's collection "The Wife of His Youth and Other Stories of the Color Line." This ia a great window into Chesnutt's views on race in America in the aftermath of the Civil War and Reconstruction. In this episide I look at four of the collected stories.

"The Wife of His Youth"
"Her Virginia Mammy"
"The Sheriff's Children"
"A Matter of Principle"

Philip K. Dick Book Club: 84 The Unreconstructed M

"The Unreconstructed M" is a good story to join with the more well-known "The Minority Report." While "The Minority Report" is based on psi powers, Dick relies entirely on big data to tell the story of law enforcement in this story.

Episode 107: Charles Chesnutt, The Conjure Woman

In this episode, I begin a brand new series on turn of the century African-American writers. First up is Charles W. Chesnutt and his connected collection of short stories "The Conjure Woman".

Episode 107: James Fenimore Cooper: The Prairie (4)

And we have reached the end of the Leatherstocking Tales. In this episode we have my final thoughts on "The Prairie" .
Looking ahead we are going to examine the works of Charles Chesnutt and other turn of the century black writers.

Philip K Dick Book Club: Episode 83.6: Eye in the Sky (6)

The finale of my review of Philip K. Dick's 1957 novel, "Eye in the Sky".
Next up: more short stories.

Philip K Dick Book Club: Episode 83.5: Eye in the Sky (5)

In this episode, I continue my examination of Philip K. Dick's novel "Eye in the Sky". In this episode, we go from the Puritianical to the paranoid.

Episode 105: James Fenimore Cooper: The Prairie (3)

 Part 3 of my review of James Fenimore Cooper's final Leatherstocking Tale, "The Prairie".

Philip K Dick Book Club: Episode 83.4: Eye in the Sky (4)

Part four of my review of "Eye in the Sky" by Philip K. Dick. In this part we leave the nutty religious world and enter the nutty world of clean bourgie living.

Episode 104: James Fenimore Cooper: The Prairie (2)

Part two of my review of James Fenimore Cooper's novel "The Prairie". Let's see if old man Bumppo still has any of his old tricks.

Philip K Dick Book Club: Episode 83.3: Eye in the Sky (3)

Part three of my review of Philip K. Dick's "Eye in the Sky".

Philip K Dick Book Club: Episode 83.2: Eye in the Sky (2)

Part two of my review of Philip K. Dick's novel "Eye in the Sky".

Philip K Dick Book Club: Episode 83.1: Eye in the Sky (1)

In Dick's second novel, published in 1957, "Eye in the Sky", we go where no one has gone before, into the minds of others.

Episode 103: James Fenimore Cooper: The Prairie (1)

Part one of my review of "The Prairie", the last of the Leatherstocking Tales. It is a great send off for our hero Natty Bumppo.