American Writers (One Hundred Pages at a Time)

Part 1 of my review of A TIME FOR THE STARS by Robert A. Heinlein. This novel explores the twin paradox and humanity branching out into the cosmos.

In this episode I explore the first four chapters of Richard Wright's BLACK BOY, his gut wrenching and deep memoir of growing up black in the Jim Crow South.

Robert A. Heinlein's TUNNEL IN THE SKY has a strong and fascinating second half in which we explore questions of building democracy and civilization. The good: The optimism about cooperation in harsh conditions. The bad: strong hints of settler colonialism.

In this episode I look at the first half of Robert A. Heinlein's TUNNEL IN THE SKY. In this juvenile, Heinlein does some interesting thing with the old Malthusian over-population narrative. The first half reads a bit like a standard adventure story, though. This novel really shines in the second half. 

The finale of my look at Richard Wright's NATIVE SON.

In this third part of four exploring the powerful novel NATIVE SON by Richard Wright, we witness the capture of Bigger Thomas and the way the media presented a black defendant, ignored black victims, and jumped to racist assumptions, all the while trying to expose the Communist Party for its anti-racist work.

The conclusion to my review of the excellent novel, THE STAR BEAST, by Robert A. Heinlein. One of his best novels and high on the ranking of the juveniles. It explores issues such as gender, service, family heritage, and diplomacy.

In this episode I look at most of part two of Richard Wright's NATIVE SON, called "Flight". Here the narrative focuses on Bigger Thomas' efforts at survival after his murder of Mary Dalton, but also look more into the perspectives of mainstream white society on communists and African-Americans. 

THE STAR BEAST is one of the best books by Robert A. Heinlein that I explored in this podcast, and this suprised me from the look of the silly cover. Gender, diplomacy, politics, law, and bureaucracy are just some of the themes Heinlein crams into this little novel.

In this episode I take on the first 100 pages of NATIVE SON by Richard Wright. It is a brilliant novel and I can only scratch the surface, but it is required reading for understanding America. I focus on the major characters and their motivations, knowing we can only begin to understand Bigger Thomas in the early stages of the novel.