Wednesday, October 12 - Gary Younge

Wednesday night on Bibliocracy, 8 PM on KPFK 90.7 FM in Southern California:  Gary Younge.  For this reader, already steeped, proudly, happily, in plenty of progressive, Left, alternative media analysis, lots of discussion about diversity and representation, the arrival of a book which builds on an honest and rich personal memoir to consider the role of identity has been a happy occasion.  Written by one of my favorite political and cultural analysts, the book has pleased in at least two ways:  as a practical guide to that discussion and as an affirmation of the role of memoir, of perspective, of the relationship of the personal to the work of the political journalist.  Gary Younge is a political journalist.  He is a careful and sincere writer also armed with wit and humor, and not afraid to tell the truth.  Which you know if you are, like me, a fan of his work for The Nation and the Guardian, of his “Younge America” Guardian video dispatches.  In this new book, he reintroduces himself and then offers a primer, a history, a critique, and, helpfully, answers the big questions in the book’s title: Who Are We - And Should It Matter in the 21st Century? And if you’ve somehow missed Younge’s previous work, consider this enthusiastic blurb from Margaret Atwood:  “An indispensable guide to ‘identity’ in politics, and a terrific read!”  Gary Younge is also author of Stranger in a Strange Land and No Place Like Home, short-listed for the Guardian First Book Award.  He received the James Cameron Prize for his reporting and is a fellow at The Nation Institute.  Thanks for listening, live on the radio or online, and downloadable free for 90 days from the station’s archives.  Please support KPFK beginning next week, during our fall 2011 fund drive.  I will offer special thank-you premiums, of course, but mostly am counting on listeners, guests of Bibliocracy, editors, agents and writers to come through for one of the few shows and stations devoted to literacy, books, civic engagement and celebrating the reading and writing life.