Episodios

  • Darius Phelps, "My God’s Been Silent" (Writ Large Press, 2026)

    Darius Phelps, "My God’s Been Silent" (Writ Large Press, 2026)
    Feb 17 2026
    My God’s Been Silent (Writ Large Press, 2026) is a poetry collection that lives at the intersection of faith and fury, grief and grace. Written in the aftermath of loss and disillusionment, these poems are elegies and incantations-each one a plea, a protest, a prayer left unanswered. This collection excavates the silence of God through the body of a Black man who has known both sanctuary and abandonment, who has tried to make sense of suffering in a world that too often turns its back This is a book for those who have screamed into the void, for those who carry loss like scripture, and for anyone who has ever felt betrayed by the very thing they were taught to believe would save them. With language that sears and softens, My God’s Been Silent does not seek resolution-it seeks release. This collection is not an answer. It is a reckoning. A remembering. A return. You can find Dr. Darius Phelps on Instagram and X. And find host, Sullivan Summer, at her website, on Instagram, and on Substack.
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    39 m
  • Gloria Browne-Marshall, "A Protest History of the United States" (Beacon Press, 2026) Revisited

    Gloria Browne-Marshall, "A Protest History of the United States" (Beacon Press, 2026) Revisited
    Feb 8 2026
    In December 2025, writer, civil rights attorney, playwright, speaker, and Professor of Constitutional Law at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Gloria J. Browne-Marshall spoke with New Books Network host, Sullivan Summer, about her book, A Protest History of the United States (Beacon Press, 2025). Little did Browne-Marshall and Summer know that, at the time of the book’s paperback release in early 2026, the nation would be in the midst of widespread and ongoing protests. So Browne-Marshall is back, this time with conversation focused specifically on the chapter of the book titled, “Protesting Violent Policing.” In this episode, we mention Terence Keel’s The Coroner’s Silence (Beacon Press, 2025). Keel’s New Books Network episode is available here. A Protest History of the United States: In this timely new book in Beacon’s successful ReVisioning History series, professor Gloria Browne-Marshall delves into the history of protest movements and rebellion in the United States. Beginning with Indigenous peoples’ resistance to European colonization and continuing through to today’s climate change demonstrations, Browne-Marshall sheds light on known and forgotten movements and their unsung leaders, offering insights into past successes and setbacks. Drawing upon legal documents, archival material, memoir, government documents and secondary sources, A Protest History of the United States expands the definition of protest beyond traditional marches and rallies. Acts of resistance also include journalism, legal battles, boycotts, everyday defiance, and more. Browne-Marshall highlights stories of individuals from all walks of life and time periods who helped bring strong attention to their causes. As contemporary movements struggle with inertia and doubt, Browne-Marshall underscores the essential role of protest as an American tradition in shaping and preserving democratic principles. By illuminating the strategies and sacrifices of activists past and present, A Protest History of the United States empowers readers to find their own voice in today’s fights for justice. Find author Gloria J. Browne-Marshall at her website and on Instagram. Find host Sullivan Summer at her website, on Instagram, and on Substack.
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    1 h y 1 m
  • Crystal Simone Smith, "Common Sense (1776), Addressed to Today's Citizen's of America: An Erasure" (Beacon, 2026)

    Crystal Simone Smith, "Common Sense (1776), Addressed to Today's Citizen's of America: An Erasure" (Beacon, 2026)
    Mar 25 2026
    This powerful work by award-winning poet Crystal Simone Smith exposes the uncomfortable truth about America’s founding text: while Common Sense is celebrated as a cornerstone of American democracy, Thomas Paine’s arguments for “total freedom and equality” were written exclusively for white men—completely excluding women and people of color from his vision of liberation.Through a clear-eyed point of view and innovative erasure poetry, Smith transforms this foundational document into Common Sense (1776): Addressed to Today's Citizen's of America (Beacon, 2026). The text is a mirror reflecting both our nation’s incomplete promises and today’s ongoing struggle for true equality, and reveals new meanings that speak to the experiences of ALL Americans—those who were silenced in 1776 and those still fighting for recognition today, just as America approaches its 250th anniversary. You can find Crystal Simone Smith on her on her Wikipedia page, and at her website. Find host, Sullivan Summer, at her website, on Instagram, and on Substack.
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    54 m
  • Antwain K. Hunter, "A Precarious Balance: Firearms, Race, and Community in North Carolina, 1715-1865" (UNC Press, 2025)

    Antwain K. Hunter, "A Precarious Balance: Firearms, Race, and Community in North Carolina, 1715-1865" (UNC Press, 2025)
    Mar 16 2026
    Spanning the 1720s through the end of the Civil War, A Precarious Balance: Firearms, Race, and Community in North Carolina, 1715-1865 (UNC Press, 2025) explores how free and enslaved Black North Carolinians accessed, possessed, and used firearms—both legal and otherwise—and how the state, and white people, responded. Historian of slavery and freedom, Antwain K. Hunter reveals that armed Black people used firearms for a wide range of purposes: they hunted to feed their families and communities, guarded property, protected crops, and defended maroon communities from outsiders. Further, they resisted the institution of slavery and used guns both against white people and within their own community. Competing views of Black people’s firearm use created social, political, and legal points of contention for different demographics within North Carolina, and left the general assembly and white civilians struggling to harness Black people’s armed labor for white people’s benefit. A Precarious Balance challenges readers to rethink how they understand race and firearms in the American past, and in its present. Author Antwain K. Hunter is a historian of slavery and freedom in North America, with a current focus on the Carolinas. A Precarious Balance is his first book. Find host, Sullivan Summer, at her website, on Instagram, and on Substack, where she and Antwain continued their conversation.
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    50 m
  • Diamond Forde, "The Book of Alice" (Scribner, 2026)

    Diamond Forde, "The Book of Alice" (Scribner, 2026)
    Feb 28 2026
    Winner of the 2025 James Laughlin Award from The Academy of American Poets When her grandmother died, poet Diamond Forde inherited a well-worn family Bible to remember her by. In The Book of Alice (Scribner, 2026), she retells the story of her grandmother’s life through the framework of the only poetry Alice knew: the King James Bible. A Black woman born in the Jim Crow South, Alice joined the tide of the Great Migration when she made her exodus to New York City. She married, divorced, and raised eight children, all while struggling to define herself in an America that looks frighteningly like our own. Using found forms like recipes, a family tree, and a US Census Report alongside imagined psalms and scriptures, Diamond draws bold parallels between biblical narratives and the lived experiences of those often relegated to the margins of history. The result is both a heartfelt elegy and a new sacred text. Find Diamond at her website and on Instagram. And find host, Sullivan Summer, at her website, on Instagram, and over on Substack, where she and Diamond continued their conversation.
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    51 m
  • Dianna N. Watkins-Dickerson, "A Black Woman for President: Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley Braun, and Kamala Harris" (UP of Mississippi)

    Dianna N. Watkins-Dickerson, "A Black Woman for President: Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley Braun, and Kamala Harris" (UP of Mississippi)
    Feb 4 2026
    Throughout US history, only three Black women—Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley Braun, and Kamala Harris—have given successfully recognized bids for the office of president of the United States. In A Black Woman for President: Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley Braun, and Kamala Harris(UP of Mississippi) author Dianna N. Watkins-Dickerson uses womanist rhetorical criticism to analyze the presidential announcement speeches of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun, and then-Senator Kamala Harris. In close readings of each candidate’s speeches, Watkins-Dickerson defines womanist rhetorical theory and its efficacy for researching Black female voices in the field of communication in general, and the presidential announcement speeches of Black women, specifically. Beginning with Shirley Chisholm’s historic 1972 campaign as the first Black woman to run a viable campaign for the US presidency, the volume analyzes how Chisholm’s speech set a precedent for future generations of Black women in politics by boldly asserting her right to lead, despite the multiple barriers of race and gender. The study then moves to Carol Moseley Braun’s 2004 presidential announcement, exploring how Braun’s speech navigated the intersections of identity, representation, and political ambition during a time when Black women in the Senate were still a rarity. Finally, the analysis culminates with Kamala Harris’s 2020 presidential bid, focusing on how her rhetoric blended elements of Black feminist resistance and national unity in an era of heightened political and racial division. The volume highlights the ways in which Chisholm, Braun, and Harris drew upon their lived experiences and cultural legacies to construct powerful, transformative narratives and argues that their speeches not only expanded the boundaries of political discourse but also reimagined the possibilities for leadership in America. Ultimately, this study provides a rich, interdisciplinary framework for understanding how Black women have reshaped the political landscape through the power of their words. You can find Dianna N. Watkins Dickerson at her website, and on social platforms @drdwd. Find host, Sullivan Summer, at her website, on Instagram, and on Substack.
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    1 h y 1 m
  • Princess Joy L. Perry, "This Here Is Love" (W.W. Norton, 2025)

    Princess Joy L. Perry, "This Here Is Love" (W.W. Norton, 2025)
    Jan 31 2026
    Three people—two enslaved, one indentured—living beside each other, struggling against their circumstances, trying to bend destiny. As the seventeenth century burns to a close in Tidewater, Virginia, America’s character is wrought in the fires of wealth, race, and freedom. Young Bless, the only child left to her enslaved mother, stubbornly crafts the terms of her vital existence. She stands as the lone bulwark between her mother and irreparable despair, her mother’s only possibility of hope, as Bless reshapes the boundaries of love. David is a helping child and a solace to his parents, and he gave a purpose to their trials. His survival hinges on his mother’s shrewd intellect and ferocious fight, but his sustenance is his freed Black father’s dream of emancipation for the entire family. Jack Dane, a Scots-Irish boy, sails to Britain’s colonies when his father sells him into indentured servitude as an escape from poverty. There Jack learns from the rich the value of each person’s life. A breathtaking, haunting, and epic saga, This Here Is Love (W.W. Norton, 2025) intimately intertwines us with these beautifully drawn, unforgettable American characters. Bless, taken to serve the slaveowner’s daughter, must decide where she belongs: with the enslaved or above them. David, sold away from his people, retreats into himself even as he yearns to unite with others. Jack, acting impetuously, changes his fortune, but will doing so sacrifice his humanity? All three come together on Jack’s land. As they face and challenge each other, they will relinquish and remake beliefs about family and freedom, even as they confront the limits of love. Princess Joy L. Perry is the recipient of a Virginia Commission for the Arts Fellowship and a winner of the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Award. Her short stories have appeared in All About Skin, African American Review, and Kweli Journal. She lives in Norfolk, Virginia. You can find her on Instagram. Host Sullivan Summer is at her website, Instagram, and on Substack, where she and Princess went to continue their conversation.
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    53 m