Books Unbound

Series produced by WFHB

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Radio reader series from Community Radio WFHB in Bloomington, Indiana.

Books burn; ideas endure. Books Unbound is a weekly showcase of literary works banned by those who fear the power of the pen. The program promotes literary reading and curiosity, challenging listeners to consider viewpoints that may be different from our own. Each week we bring you literature prohibited by governments, schools, and religious institutions. In the words of French philosopher Emile-Auguste Chartier, "nothing is as dangerous as an idea, when it’s the only one you’ve got."


150 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
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“The Mulatto” first appeared in 1837 in an anti-slavery magazine published by free people of color in France. Its author was the 19-year-old Victor...

Bought by WCPN


  • Added: Feb 23, 2015
  • Length: 58:27
  • Purchases: 1
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Born in New Orleans, Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1875–1935) was the daughter of a seamstress and former slave, and a sailor. She grew up poor and felt aff...

Bought by WMUU-LP


  • Added: Mar 02, 2015
  • Length: 58:37
  • Purchases: 1
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Born in New Orleans and an early figure of the Harlem Renaissance, Alice Dunbar-Nelson (1875–1935) considered fiction her most representative form ...

Bought by WMUU-LP


  • Added: Mar 09, 2015
  • Length: 57:59
  • Purchases: 1
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Mary Hunter Austin was born in Illinois in 1868 and died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1934. Her father encouraged her interest in writing, but died ...

  • Added: Mar 16, 2015
  • Length: 58:06
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In the interconnected story cycle of “Lost Borders,” Mary Hunter Austin challenges the masculine myths of the American West through the perspective...

  • Added: Mar 23, 2015
  • Length: 58:12
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“Lost Borders” by Mary Hunter Austin continues with interconnected stories about the American West from a feminist and conservationist perspective....

  • Added: Mar 31, 2015
  • Length: 58:02
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The interconnected stories of ‘’Lost Borders’’ are set in the desert landscape of southern California, where author Mary Hunter Austin moved with h...

  • Added: Apr 06, 2015
  • Length: 01:08:57
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The interconnected story cycle “Lost Borders” by Mary Hunter Austin concludes. Austin’s character types and settings are in many ways familiar from...

  • Added: Apr 14, 2015
  • Length: 59:51
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“Killing Voltaire: An Observance for Charlie Hebdo” is a collaborative response by the Books Unbound community to the deadly attack January 7 on th...

  • Added: Apr 20, 2015
  • Length: 58:44
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“Exploring with Robert McAlmon” is a three-episode series of fiction and poetry by one of the lesser-known Modernists. Born in 1895, McAlmon grew u...

  • Added: May 04, 2015
  • Length: 55:54
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“Exploring with Robert McAlmon” is a three-episode series of fiction and poetry by one of the lesser-known Modernists. McAlmon has been called a le...

  • Added: May 11, 2015
  • Length: 01:03:45
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Robert McAlmon was a ubiquitous presence among the “Lost Generation” of American expatriate writers during the 1920s and ’30s in Paris. Bisexual, h...

  • Added: May 18, 2015
  • Length: 58:25
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“Not Somewhere Else But Here” is a companion piece to Books Unbound’s April 25th episode on Guantánamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi, and was origi...

Bought by WMUU-LP


  • Added: May 25, 2015
  • Length: 58:09
  • Purchases: 1
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The Life Of Lazarillo de Tormes, His Fortunes and Misfortunes is a classic of Spanish literature, written anonymously and one of only six novels on...

  • Added: Jun 02, 2015
  • Length: 58:29
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The Life Of Lazarillo de Tormes, His Fortunes and Misfortunes concludes with an improbably happy ending. Lazaro is a clueless but sly servant boy w...

  • Added: Jun 08, 2015
  • Length: 58:02
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Books Unbound revisits “The Mulatto,” a short story that first appeared in 1837 in an anti-slavery magazine published by free people of color in Fr...

Bought by WMUU-LP


  • Added: Jun 15, 2015
  • Length: 58:24
  • Purchases: 1
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Elizabeth Stoddard (1823–1902) wrote most of her published fiction in the 1860s, during the turbulent years encompassing the American Civil War. Wh...

  • Added: Jun 22, 2015
  • Length: 58:19
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The second part of Books Unbound’s summer series on Elizabeth Stoddard (1823–1902) features “Lucy Tavish’s Journey “ (1867), a romantic tale read b...

  • Added: Jun 29, 2015
  • Length: 57:45
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A special two-hour program broadcast on the Fourth of July, “The American Crisis” features readings from the Revolutionary era, contemporary poetry...

  • Added: Jul 06, 2015
  • Length: 01:56:57
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Books Unbound resumes the summer series “Elizabeth Stoddard and the 1860s” after an Independence Day break, with two short stories by this lesser-k...

  • Added: Jul 13, 2015
  • Length: 58:03