Racial Cleansing In America

biewen_cover_to_uncpr Click for a closeup of the cover.

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Finally! A book about the craft and art of radio documentary. It’s about time!!

John Biewen and his co-editor Alexa Dilworth have assembled Reality Radio, a collection of masterful essays by radio’s best producers. Reading this, I feel as though I’ve had a personal, one-on-one conversation with many of the contemporary heroes of documentary radio. The essays eloquently convey the power of sound, the back-story to radio production, and the unique motivations of each essayist. Reality Radio will stoke “radio fire” in the belly of new producers, stir the embers for radiophiles afflicted by the radio bug for many years, and serve as the perfect introduction for people outside the radio field.

Or, put another way: Reality Radio? Ya gotta read it.

John is a long-time public radio documentary producer. You can hear much of his work here and here.  John also directs the Audio Program at the Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) at Duke University. Alexa is the Publishing Director at CDS.

On this Saltcast we feature John’s story “Racial Cleansing In America.” It’s about the expulsion of blacks from Corbin, Kentucky by the town’s white citizens in 1919. Have a listen then have a read!

Best,

Rob

PS – Alexa says the radio on the cover of the book is an actual, working radio — the Isis 20. Sweet!

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