What's the Deal?

with Ali Velshi's Banned Book Club

MSBNC host Ali Velshi founded his #VelshiBannedBookClub in February 2022, in response to the increasingly widespread practice of schools and libraries prohibiting readers — especially young readers — from accessing books that adults believe would make these readers uncomfortable.

These books include such literary classics as Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, contemporary tomes such as Ibram X. Kendi’s Stamped from the Beginning and How to be an Antiracist, illustrated children’s books, New Kid and I Am Rosa Park, sadly, the list is way to long to include.

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Listen: Ali Velshi Banned Book Club with Author Jacqueline Woodson
By Ali Velshi

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From Matthew Seybold

Elmira College scholar-in-residence Matt Seybold hosts the podcast “American Vandal” for the Center for Mark Twain Studies.

Find episodes on the Center’s website here, on Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Listen

In CitizenCast

The Citizen’s podcast version of Ali Velshi’s banned book interview with scholar Matthew Seybold.

Listen:

Listen

Ali Velshi Banned Book Club on Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with Matthew Seybold

The MSNBC anchor speaks with Mark Twain scholar Matthew Seybold about the still-scandalous American classic

Listen

Ali Velshi Banned Book Club on Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with Matthew Seybold

The MSNBC anchor speaks with Mark Twain scholar Matthew Seybold about the still-scandalous American classic

BY Lauren McCutcheon

Aug. 01, 2022

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In this episode of #VelshiBannedBookClub, Citizen Board Member and MSNBC host Ali Velshi speaks with Mark Twain scholar and American Vandal podcast host Matthew Seybold about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In his iconic (and banned) work of American literature, according to Seybold, Twain uses the N-word not just a product of his time, but as a purposeful commentary about dehumanization.

Seybold also reveals why he disagrees with Ernest Hemingway: Don’t stop reading after chapter 31. The end of Huck Finn tells the truth about America.

Listen to the interview below:

Velshi and Seybold Discuss The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:

Velshi on banned books on MSNBC:

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