Bastards of the reagan era book

Definitions of the reagan era universally include the 1980s. Bastards of the reagan era this book is a challenge, confronting realities that frame an america often made invisible. It is a strange irony that despite all of our war documentaries, battle reenactments, and tourist traps, the american civil war remains a halftold tale. Winner of the pen new england, poetry bastards of the reagan era is a challenge, confronting. Reginald dwayne betts is a finalist for the 2016 pen open book award for bastards of the reagan era. As a result of a carjacking he committed at the age of sixteen, he was sentenced to over eight years in prison. It overlaps with what political scientists call the sixth party system. New york times book critic michiko kakutani called reginald dwayne betts bastards of the reagan era fierce, lyrical, and unsparing. Bastards of the reagan era reginald dwayne betts black. Bettss second volume of verse, demonstrates his ability to use the musical power of words to convey what it is like to grow up black and marginalized, and. Bastards of the reagan era is a challenge, a confrontation of the hard realities that frame america. Review by kati waldrop bastards of the reagan era reginald dwayne betts four way books, 2015 isbn. For the memoir, he received the 2010 naacp image award for nonfiction. Jun 26, 2017 betts says bastards of the reagan era was inspired by this notion that whole sort of generation of young people were bastards of an era, of the reagan era.

Dec 14, 2015 as its title suggests, reginald dwayne betts bastards of the reagan era relives another fraught chapter in american history. Bastards of the reagan era book portland public library. Bastards of the reagan era reginald dwayne betts four way books bastards of the reagan era challenges and confronts many of the difficult realities that frame america. Jan 11, 2016 bastards of the reagan era is betts second book of poetry and it touches on the way he believes institutions schools, the police, the judicial system helped create a lost. The title conjures the time period of much of the workbettss childhood in t. Bastards of the reagan era, a book of poetry the new. In reginald dwayne betts second fulllength collection of poetry. Since his release, he has become a poet and a yale law student. Bettss first poetry collection, shahid reads his own palm, appeared in 2010 from alice james books, a year after his nonfiction book a question of freedom.

In bastards of the reagan era a poet says his generation was just lost after being convicted of carjacking as a teenager, reginald dwayne betts. First is that its this idea of being fatherless, but the other idea is. In bastards of the reagan era a poet says his generation. Bastards of the reagan era, by reginald d wayne betts. In his biting, insistent book of poems, bastards of the reagan era, reginald dwayne betts lets the reader know he will not depict the ghetto in the feelgood manner of the early 90s films he references, menace ii society and boyz n the hood. After being convicted of carjacking as a teenager, reginald dwayne betts spent eight years in an adult prison. Bastards of the reagan era by reginald dwayne betts is the winner of the 2016 pen new england award in poetry, the 2015 indiefab book of the year for. Jan 09, 2016 in his biting, insistent book of poems, bastards of the reagan era, reginald dwayne betts lets the reader know he will not depict the ghetto in the feelgood manner of the early 90s films he references, menace ii society and boyz n the hood. The reagan era or age of reagan is a periodization of recent american history used by historians and political observers to emphasize that the conservative reagan revolution led by president ronald reagan in domestic and foreign policy had a lasting impact. Poet reginald dwayne betts returns to the city that nearly. Desk copies for faculty college and university professors may request complimentary desk copies of eligible books that they have already adopted for their courses. In a collection that stitches the broader political landscape of the reagan years to the intimate landscape of his own relationships, the poet proves that we. He has since gone on to author several awardwinning works, including poetry, a memoir, and legal scholarship. Reginald dwayne bettss felon and his earlier bastards of the reagan era the cover of felon is white and bastards is black, and the books are like that, night.

Reginald dwayne bettss latest collection is bastards of the reagan era. Reginald dwayne betts gives larry a unique view of the american criminal justice system after. This book of poetry turns a critical eye to the harsh realities of american society and its treatment of black men. Bastards of the reagan era makes bodacious claims on readers, from the title of the book itself, to the title poem which goes on for sixteen pages and that shows that the long poem, which rarely if ever appears in the pages of the new yorker, isnt dead. Reginald dwayne betts transformed himself from a sixteenyear old kid sentenced to nineyears in prison to a critically acclaimed writer and graduate of the yale law school. Review of bastards of the reagan era by reginald dwayne betts. Bastards of the reagan era english department university. Fierce, lyrical and unsparing, the poems in reginald dwayne bettss new book, bastards of the reagan era, bear witness to the authors. Catching the eye of this famous critic is an accomplishment in and of itself. Reginald dwayne betts, bastards of the reagan era youtube. He catalogues his sentencing and his time in prison as he.

Betts says the name of the book holds double meaning. December 8, 2015 after being convicted of carjacking as a. Jan 15, 2016 subscribe to larry kings youtube channel. A memoir of learning, survival and coming of age in prison. In the case of his own life, betts insists on the adage that the personal is political. I think about my own life, i think about the life of people thats close to me, and i just recognize that we were. Bastards of the reagan era by reginald dwayne betts goodreads. We see that and we see each reason why we return to what pains us. Bastards of the reagan era is a challenge, confronting realities that frame an america often made invisible.

And it is a perfect moment for the deliberately timestamped bastards of the reagan era four way books, 2015 by reginald dwayne betts. Since 2010, reginald dwayne betts has published two books of verse, shahid reads his own palm and bastards of the reagan era, and the memoir, a question of freedom. Bastards of the reagan era reginald dwayne betts four way books. Dec 08, 2015 in bastards of the reagan era a poet says his generation was just lost after being convicted of carjacking as a teenager, reginald dwayne betts spent eight years in an adult prison. Bastards of the reagan era book midcontinent public. Dec 08, 2015 in bastards of the reagan era a poet says his generation was just lost fresh air. First is that its this idea of being fatherless, but the. His first collection of poems, shahid reads his own palm, won the beatrice hawley award. Bastards of the reagan era stahlecker selections 9781935536659. James madison university a broken epic for the black. He has written three acclaimed collections of poetry, the recently published felon, bastards of the reagan era. From the solid black cover to the desolate landscape contained therein, light rarely penetrates his bleak book, in which the boyz are bastards. Fierce, lyrical and unsparing, the poems in reginald dwayne betts new book, bastards of the reagan era, bear witness to the authors difficult journey from prison to law school, and the.

In bastards of the reagan era a poet says his generation was. Bastards of the reagan era by reginald dwayne betts. In bastards of the reagan era a poet says his generation was just lost fresh air. December 8, 2015 after being convicted of carjacking as a teenager, reginald dwayne betts spent eight. A memoir of learning, survival, and coming of age in prison, was the recipient of the 2010 naacp image award for nonfiction. President reagans address to the nation on the campaign against drug abuse. The books stark production values echo its cinematic interrogations of africanamerican life during the socalled war on drugs of the 1980s and early 1990s. Reginald dwayne betts rose from criminal obscurity to a current man of letters with an awardwinning memoir and debut poetry collection, a pushcart prize, and now his second book of poetry, bastards of the reagan era. Fierce, lyrical and unsparing, the poems in bastards of the reagan era is a haunting and harrowing book that addresses, through the power of poetry, the trials of coming of age during an era in which unarmed black men and boys are dying at the hands of police officers, and millions are incarcerated by a justice system that turns people into statistics and warps their lives and hopes. Bastards of the reagan era is betts second book of poetry and it touches on the way he believes institutions schools, the police, the judicial system helped create a lost. With everything that has changed, this book about the 1980s shows us how much has stayed heartbreakingly the same. The subjects and themes in reginald dwayne bettss bastards of the reagan era emerge from and are grounded in the formative event of the authors young life.

His most recent book is a collection of poems called bastards of the reagan era. This book is a challenge, confronting realities that frame an america often made invisible. I have never been a black man struggling under the curse of the drug war. Fierce, lyrical and unsparing, the poems in bastards of the reagan era is a haunting and harrowing book that addresses, through the power of poetry, the trials of coming of age during an era in which unarmed black men and boys are dying at the hands of police officers, and millions are incarcerated by a justice system that turns people into. Part 3 with paul gigot and robert mundell duration. The poems of his latest book, bastards of the reagan era, steam forward quite naturally from his first book of poetry, shahid reads his own palm, and his memoir, a question of freedom, to tell the story of his carjacking a man in virginia at the age of 16 and being sentenced as an adult. African american poetry in the age of the new jim crow. Reginald dwayne betts discusses new book bastards of the. Reginald dwayne betts this book is a challenge, confronting realities that frame an america often made invisible. Nov 14, 2015 fierce, lyrical and unsparing, the poems in reginald dwayne betts new book, bastards of the reagan era, bear witness to the authors difficult journey from prison to law school, and the. This book of poetry turns a critical eye to the harsh realities of american society and its. Elephants in the fall elegy with a city in it a toothless crackhead was the mascot at the end of life, a secret bastards of the reagan era crimson for the city that nearly broke me for the city that nearly broke me elegy with a rip shirt turning into the wind for the city that nearly broke me for the. Bastards of the reagan era is a challenge, confronting r.

Poet and memoirist betts shahid reads his own palm presents elegy after elegy in a devastatingly beautiful collection that calls out to young black men lost to the pitfalls of urban america. In bastards of the reagan era a poet says his generation was just lost after being convicted of carjacking as a teenager, reginald dwayne betts spent eight years in an adult prison. The title conjures the time period of much of the workbettss childhood in the 1980swhen he participated in a carjacking that put him in prison for the better part of a. Contents elephants in the fall elegy with a city in it a toothless crackhead was the mascot at the end of life, a secret bastards of the reagan era crimson for the city that nearly broke me for the city that nearly broke me. Its even more impressive given that just over ten years ago betts was sitting in a prison cell. Jul 30, 2015 reginald dwayne betts, bastards of the reagan era four way books publicity. Poetry likewise makes my world revolve, but in the opposite direction.