Barack Obama on the Importance of Reading Books, Even When You’re Extremely Busy

Each year, President Barack Obama releases his reading list. His recent recommendations include: "The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams" by Stacy Schiff, a biography of a Founding Father. “South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation,” by Imani Perry, which won the National Book Award for its nuanced analysis of …

‘A Little History of the World’ in Just 9 Hours (Audiobook)

First published in 1936, Austrian art historian E.H. Gombrich's "Little History of the World" has become a bestseller in English since it was finally translated and published in 2005. It was initially written for children and adolescents, but the Nazis rejected it as too pacifist, and banned it. It is now acclaimed as a very …

Toni Morrison, First Black American to Win the Nobel Prize for Literature

Crash Course Black American History #48: "Today, Clint Smith will teach you about the legendary writer Toni Morrison (1931-2019). Morrison is best known for her novels which chronicle the experiences of Black Americans throughout history. She was the first Black American Woman to win a Nobel Prize for Literature." "Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison, known as …

Renowned Historian David McCullough Dies At 89

"His research — on Adams, Truman and so much more — was deep, his writing was lively, and his narrator’s voice in documentary films was familiar to millions." NYT obituary. 60 Minutes profile from 2012: Morley Safer spoke with the author and historian in a sweeping interview that touched on McCullough's career, negative political campaigning, …

Warm-Up Quotes from Ken Follett’s ‘Pillars of the Earth’ to Reflect Upon

Pick one or two and reflect: 1."The book gave Jack a feeling he had never had before, that the past was like a story, in which one thing led to another, and the world was not a boundless mystery, but a finite thing that could be comprehended." 2.""You never know," Jack said speculatively. "There may …

‘Godfather Book and Movie Were Cultural Phenomena That Exposed Mafia in America

The fiftieth anniversary of "The Godfather" movie, directed by Francis Ford Coppola based on Mario Puzo's bestselling novel, is a reminder that the book took the literary world in 1969-70 and the film took Hollywood by storm in 1972.

Zora Neale Hurston, Pioneering Black Feminist Author, Died in Poverty and Was Almost Forgotten

Crash Course Black American History #30: "The Harlem Renaissance produced many remarkable artists, writers, and thinkers. Today we'll talk about one of the most interesting minds of the time, Zora Neale Hurston. Hurston was an anthropologist by training, and spent much of her career studying and documenting the lives of Black people in the southern …

Harlem Renaissance: Arts and Letters, Langston Hughes

Crash Course Black American History #26: "The Harlem Renaissance was one of the richest, most vibrant, and most culturally generative artistic periods in American history and the work that emerged from that period continues to shape the landscape of American arts and letters today. In this episode, we’re going to explore some of the writers, …

‘A New Origin Story’: The 1619 Project, Now a Book

Released in hardcover in November, 2021, "A New Origin Story: The 1619 Project," based largely on a series of articles in the New York Times, has become an instant bestseller after sparking a great deal of online debate. The original essays are expanded; additional historians offer contributions; short fiction and poems are added which complement …

The Great Migration of Black Americans from South to North, Beginning In The 1910s

Crash Course Black American History #24: "In 1910, 90% of Black Americans lived in the South. By 1940, around 1.5 million Black Americans had left their homes, and 77% lived in the South. By 1970, 52% of Black Americans remained in the South. People moved away for many reasons, including increased opportunity in the more …