You're listening to all the back lists, a weekly show about books that are not new.

I'm your host, Vanessa Diaz, and this is episode 397.5, airing on January 20th.

And today I'm going to be telling you about two books that have felt really timely for

me and that I've been thinking a lot about this January, albeit for very different reasons

and in different ways.

But before we get into that, let us hear from our sponsor.

This first book is one that I immediately thought of, and I thought about a lot because,

as of the time of this recording, it is January 18th.

And so we just celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday here in the U.S. and,

you know, as happens every year online, I was just bombarded by so many folks completely

distorting what was actually Dr. King's message into just some really indecernable

shapes.

And I thought of this read that I hope more people will pick up, and that is three mothers,

how the mothers of Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X and James Baldwin shaped a nation by Anima

like a tubs.

I actually talked about this book on the main show back when it first came out, which

I think, oh my gosh, what is time is, was like 2020, I believe, maybe even 21, because

again, obligatory, what is time using here?

But I talked about it then, and as I said then, so much has been written and read about

these, you know, three men, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X and James Baldwin.

But little has been said about the extraordinary women who raised these American icons, Dr.

Tubbs, who is a Gates scholar, was at least at the time a Cambridge PhD candidate, I forgot

...