Book Fight

We're joined this week by Gina Myers (poet, reviewer, recent transplant to Philadelphia) to discuss Mark Binelli's examination of Detroit. Binelli grew up in and around the city, and returned to live in its Eastern Market neighborhood, meet some locals, and investigate what was going right, and wrong, in the city that's become America's favorite allegory. 

Direct download: Ep_73-Binelli_DetroitCityIsPlaceToBe.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

This week we're reading Kevin Sampsell's essay "I'm Jumping Off The Bridge" and talking about failed utopias: shakers, fruit-lovers, dangerous cults, and more.

For more, visit us at bookfightpod.com.

Direct download: FailureEp5_Sampsell.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

This week's book is a Tom pick, and was also the runner-up in last year's listener poll, narrowly losing out to The Silver Linings Playbook. Also: it's November, so we're once again talking about National Novel Writing Month, delving into the NaNoWriMo forums to see what this year's participants are struggling with.

Direct download: Ep72_Mangla.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

This week's essay is a Tom pick, an essay by Eula Biss called "Time and Distance Overcome," which is about, among other things, early telephone technology, resistance to telephone poles, and the widespread lynching of black men in early 20th century America.

We're also talking about failed amusement parks this week: parks that were proposed but never built, and some that probably shouldn't have been built, including a wild-animal safari in New Jersey and Dickens World in the UK.

For more, visit us online at bookfightpod.com

Direct download: FailureEp4_Biss.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am EDT

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