About this episode

Jeff and Rebecca discuss Colson Whitehead's 'The Underground Railroad' on its 10th anniversary, exploring its blend of speculative fiction and the realities of slavery.

On the occasion of its 10th anniversary, Jeff and Rebecca turn to Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer- and National Book Award-winning fabulist reimagining of American history. They discuss the blend of speculative fiction and literary writing that made The Underground Railroad one of only 8 novels to win both the Pulitzer and the National Book Award, explore the ways that magic realism to highlights the horrific reality of slavery, and make the case for Colson Whitehead as the best living American novelist. Subscribe to our free newsletter, and become a member for access to early, ad-free listening and bonus content. Follow Zero to Well-Read on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Email us: zerotowellread@bookriot.com Thank you to ThriftBooks for being the presenting sponsor of this season of Zero to Well-Read! Zero to Well-Read is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Go to quince.com/wellread for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. It's now available for our friends in Canada too! For a limited time, you can get 20% off sitewide at bollandbranch.com/wellread…

People in this episode

Hosts: Jeff, Rebecca

Topics covered

• American history
• speculative fiction
• literary writing
• slavery
• magic realism
• Colson Whitehead

Keywords

• Colson Whitehead
• The Underground Railroad
• Pulitzer Prize
• National Book Award
• magic realism
• slavery
• speculative fiction

Sponsors

ThriftBooks

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Book Riot, Airwave Podcast Network

Books & works: The Underground Railroad

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