Velshi Banned Book Club

Symone Sanders Townsend and Eugene Daniels were once at odds as White House staffer and White House reporter. Now they’re friends and colleagues—each co-hosting their own shows at MS NOW. But their off-air conversations are where the real action is. Their new show, “MS NOW Presents: Clock It” is an invitation to their groupchat, the liveliest—and most informative—in news. Whether it’s ICE getting...

Rachel Maddow’s new series lays bare one of the most shocking decisions in American history. It’s story that reveals how an executive order authorizing the mass roundup of innocent Japanese Americans came to be, the powerful players who engineered it, and the burn order that tried to erase it from history. Stay right here to listen to a special preview of “Rachel Maddow Presents: Burn Order.” And...

This episode of the Velshi Banned Book Club will confront the barrier to entry that surrounds poetry and tear it down by closely examining a masterclass in poetic storytelling:  “Brown Girl Dreaming” by Jacqueline Woodson. "Brown Girl Dreaming" follows Woodson’s childhood split between segregated Greenville, South Carolina, and New York City. “Brown Girl Dreaming” is a beautiful look at childhood,...

There is one thing that connects the disparate generations of Americans: books. This episode of the Velshi Banned Book Club will look at two novels that don’t just capture the spirit of growing up but punctuate chapters in an American student’s life: “Bridge to Terabithia” by Katherine Paterson and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky. These books are frequently assigned in English...

At first glance, the two books that make-up this episode of the Velshi Banned Book Club have very little similarities. Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” is a critical keystone to both the English language and the art of storytelling. Everyone knows Romeo and Juliet’s tragic love story. Dorit Rabinyan’s “All The Rivers” is a semi-autobiographic love story between an Israeli and a Palestinian student...

What is braver than sharing your own story with the world? Nothing. This episode of the Velshi Banned Book Club will examine two true stories: “Hunger” by Roxane Gay and “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls. While these two memoirs are windows into two vastly different worlds, they are both masterclasses in the age-old tradition of storytelling as a warning, as a lesson, and as a means to underst...

Heralded as one of the most enduring and salient novels in American history, “The Things They Carried”, written by Tim O’Brien, is a fictionalized account of O’Brien’s very real time as an infantry soldier in the Vietnam War. While, at its core, it is a Vietnam War novel, “The Things They Carried” explores the futility of all war, the power of friendship, and the motivating effects of morality, is...

The story of this country is told through the eyes of immigrants. This episode of the Velshi Banned Book Club will explore two critically acclaimed additions to the American immigration literary canon: “How the García Girls Lost Their Accents” by Julia Alvarez and “American Street” by Ibi Zoboi. Both novels examine what becomes of identity, religion, family, and community when confronted with the...

Good dystopian literature forces its readers to confront ideas of government, culture, community, and identity. This episode of the "Velshi Banned Book Club" will examine two of the most celebrated works of dystopian literature of all time: “The Giver” by Lois Lowry and “1984” by George Orwell. Both novels are staples in the American public education system, the dystopian literary canon, and they...

We are starting Season 2 of the "Velshi Banned Book Club" with a very special featured book: Ali Velshi’s own “Small Acts of Courage: A Legacy of Endurance and the Fight for Democracy.” Exploring more than a century of his family's history, the book illustrates Ali’s worldview, including his dedication to public service and his unwavering belief in social justice. While it hasn't been banned, unde...

MSNBC's Ali Velshi brings you a second season of the “Velshi Banned Book Club.” Book banning is happening more and more. Removing literature from library shelves, school syllabi, and summer reading lists isn’t just blatant censorship; it is the tip of the sword that threatens American democracy itself. Featuring critically acclaimed and culturally impactful literature – including work by Tim O’Bri...

Is there a work of writing more influential than the Constitution of the United States? Is there a work of writing more weaponized, more debated, and more quoted and misquoted? On this special episode of the Velshi Banned Book Club we will provide crucial context and a complete reading of the sacred document so that you can decide for yourself. This is the agreement that laid the foundation for th...

Few authors have changed American culture more than the unparalleled Toni Morrison and the amazing Zora Neale Hurston. This episode of the Velshi Banned Book Club examines two crucial books in the Black literary canon: “Beloved” and “Their Eyes Were Watching God”. Ivy league scholars Dr. Imani Perry and Dr. Eddie Glaude Jr. look at celebrated work “Beloved”, a book that demands you look squarely i...

There is a persistent and damaging sexist trope that books written by women and for women are frivolous, light, and devoid of true meaning. On this episode of Velshi Banned Book Club Podcast we subvert that narrative with two powerful “chick-lit” books that have equally important messages: "Ready or Not" by Meg Cabot and “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson. “Ready or Not” focuses on high schoolers gr...

Latino representation in the literary and publishing community is startlingly low -- a survey conducted by Lee & Low Books and Boston University in 2020, found that a mere 6% of publishers identify as Latino. There are just a few books for such a large and diverse group – the quickest growing population in America. Both “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” by Benjamin Alire S...

“The 1619 Project”, named for the year the first enslaved African people arrived on the shores of Virginia, began as an editorial franchise for the New York Times. Since its inception, “The 1619 Project” has faced sharp criticism and relentless calls for its ban -- from school libraries, state Senates, and even from the White House. “The 1619 Project” encapsulates exactly why the books featured on...

School shootings can feel inescapable -- especially if you're an American. Authors Jodi Picoult and Todd Strasser grapple with school shootings through literature. Picoult’s “Nineteen Minutes” is told from a place of healing. The reader is not asked to feel compassion for the shooter, but the story lays bare the bullying, taunts, and complicated family dynamics that help to explain the “why”. “Giv...

The stakes are high when you’re a Black teenager in America – they can be life or death. Both books featured on this episode of Velshi Banned Book Club couple pulled-from-the-headlines urgency with the emotional depth of good fiction. “All American Boys”, co-authored by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely, explores a gutting episode of police brutality from the perspectives of two teenage boys: one B...

Most everyone knows Margaret Atwood’s name for her seminal work “The Handmaid’s Tale”. “The Handmaid’s Tale” is more relevant with each passing day – exploring women’s bodily autonomy, the environment, autocratic regimes, and even the banning of books. Atwood also wrote a stirring modern adaption of William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”, entitled “Hagseed”. Atwood’s take on the classic grapples with...

Books that tell LGBTQ+ stories are banned at a disproportionately high rate. The first episode of Velshi Banned Book Club features two equally powerful and poignant novels that grapple with what it means to discover who you are and who you love. “Two Boys Kissing” by David Levithan masterfully weaves four separate narratives and a haunting Greek chorus of AIDS victims to tell a story of freedom, e...

MSNBC’s Ali Velshi brings you the “Velshi Banned Book Club,” an act of resistance against the epidemic of book banning. In each episode, a different author of a banned book joins Ali—including Margaret Atwood, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Laurie Halse Anderson, George M. Johnson and more—to talk about why their work is being targeted and about the literature itself. “Velshi Banned Book Club” is a series r...