American Writers (One Hundred Pages at a Time)

Philip K. Dick Book Club: 92.4: Dr. Futurity (4)

The finale of my review of Philip K. Dick's novel "Dr. Futurity" and my thoughts on what it means for us in our time.

Philip K. Dick Book Club: 92.3: Dr. Futurity (3)

Part 3 of my comments on Philip K. Dick's 1960 novel, "Dr. Futurity".

Philip K. Dick Book Club: 92.2: Dr. Futurity (2)

Part 2 of my review of Philip K. Dick's "Dr. Futurity".

Episode 220: W. E. B. Du Bois: Dusk of Dawn (1)

Part one of my comments on W. E. B. Du Bois' "Dusk of Dawn," an autobiograhy and statment of American (and global) race relations in the 20th century.

Episode 119: W E. B. Du Bois: The Souls of Black Folk (2)

The second part and finale of my review of W. E. B. Du Bois' "The Souls of Black Folk." In the second part of this collection of wounderful essays Du Bois explores some of the cultural and economic aspects of black life in America at the turn of the century.

Philip K. Dick Book Club: 92.1: Dr Futurity (1)

Part one of my review of Philip K. Dick's 1960 novel "Dr. Futurity". It may not be one of his best, but it is rich with ideas, many of which are relevant to us. At the the heart of its concern, the relationship between young people and the systems we hand over to them.

Philip K. Dick Book Club: Episode 91: War Game

In "War Game," Philip K. Dick considers the ideology of toys. It makes me think a bit about "Mimsy Were the Borogroves".

Episode 118: W. E. B. Du Bois: The Souls of Black Folk (1)

I humbly give my comments on what I think is one of the greatest works of American literatre, W. E. B. Du Bois' "The Souls of Black Folk".

Philip K. Dick Book Club: Episode 90: Fair Game

Although this story was written much earlier in Dick's career, "Fair Game" was not published until 1959. A rather silly tale, but good for a chuckle and a little meditation on the nature of how we respond to those who watch us.

Episode 117: W. E. B. Du Bois: The Suppression of the Slave Trade (2)

Part two of my review of Du Bois' Ph.D. dissertation on the legal, moral and economic changes that led to the end of the slave trade.

Episode 116: W. E. B. Du Bois: The Suppression of the Slave Trade

"The Suppression of the Slave Trade" was W. E. B Du Bois' Ph.D. dissertation wirtten in Harvard. It is a solid work of legal history exploring the relationship betwene moral progress, legal justice, and economic change.

Philip K. Dick Book Club: Episode 89: Recall Mechanism

In this Philip K. Dick story, "Recall Mechanism", we consider the relationship between mental illness and precognition.

Philip K. Dick Book Club: 88: Explorers We

The first of Philip K. Dick's stories from 1959, "Explorers We", considers the possiblities of a very strange alien invasion.

Episode 116: Charles W. Chesnutt: Essays

In this episode we say goodbye to Charles W. Chesnutt by looking at a handful of his most important esasys. Next up, W. E. B. Du Bois.

 

 

Episode 114: Charles W. Chesnutt, Assorted Stories

In this episode, I look at some of the uncollected stories by Charles W. Chesnutt. We have some more stories in the Julius series, including one on Southern geophagia. There are also some of his "northern stories" dealing wtih the color line from a broader national perspective. There are even a few stories were Chesnutt (out of character) took on issues not relating to the color line at all.

Philip K. Dick Book Club: 87.5: Time Out of Joint (5)

The finale of my review of Philip K. Dick's novel "Time Out of Joint".

Philip K. Dick Book Club: 87.4: Time Out of Joint (4)

Part 4 of my review of Philip K. Dick's "Time Out of Joint".

Episode 113: Charles W Chesnutt. The Marrow of Tradition (2)

Part two of my review of Charles Chesnutt's novel "The Marrow of Tradition"

Episode 112: Charles W. Chesnutt: The Marrow of Traditon (1)

The first of two episodes looking at Charles W. Chesnutt's masterpiece, "The Marrow of Tradition", a book on post-Reconstruction politics, race relations, racial violence, and the color line.

Philip K. Dick Book Club: 87.3: Time Out of Joint (3)

We go a little bit deeper into the rabbit hole of Ragle Gumm's strange life in part three of my review of Philip K. Dick's "Time Out of Joint".

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.