Podcast

Book Talk: A Podcast About Book Bannings in America

Join student journalists Sam Lawrence and Sam Shipman in the first episode of “Book Talk,” a series that dives into the history of book bannings in America. Lawrence and Shipman start at the very beginning, from the Puritan government’s repressive policies in the mid-sixteenth-hundreds, and work their way to today’s pushes by conservative lawmakers to restrict media in schools and libraries.

In this episode, we talk to Emerson Journalism Professor Tim Riley, who gives frequent lectures on the topic of book bannings, specifically in regards to American classics such as “Huckleberry Finn” and “The Great Gatsby.” Our next guest, Tiffany Alvarez, is an Emerson sophomore from Florida who has experienced the censorship of LGBTQ+ materials firsthand. And finally, Massachusetts English teacher Elizabeth Tahaney breaks down some of the main reasons why parents may want to restrict their child’s access to books in school.

On “Book Talk,” nothing is off limits.