
Eighteen CDs spanning 21 hours. That's how long it takes to listen to the unabridged audiobook The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation, which won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in history. Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff co-authored the book.
I found the audiobook at a Dallas Public Library branch last fall. Because of my journalism background, I skated to the checkout desk. The late Richard Allen narrated the audiobook brilliantly. Some of the information was so dramatic that, at times, I turned it off in order to drive safely.
If you follow my blog, you know I am a bookworm, thanks to my dear late mother. The Race Beat is more than a great book. It's eye-opening, literary journalism focused on the civil rights movement and the journalists who covered it, presented in a no-holds-barred style.
Earlier this month, I contacted Klibanoff at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., and he readily agreed to do an audio interview via Skype. The Feb. 12, 2014 interview plus links are below.
Thank you for listening to this Black History Month 2014 Salute.
Regina