Book Club: ‘The Shadow King’
Nerdette Recaps With Peter Sagal
WBEZ
4.6 • 924 Ratings
🗓️ 25 September 2020
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to the Nerdette Book Club! Each month, we read a book and chat about it with a rotating group of panelists. This month’s pick is Maaza Mengiste’s historical novel The Shadow King.
It’s based on the true story of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in the mid-1930s. Against Italian Prime Minister Benito Musolinni’s technologically-advanced army, the citizens of feudal Ethiopia didn’t seem to have a chance. But they eventually overcame— and they had the help of a number of forgotten female fighters.
Listen along as Nerdette host Greta Johnsen discusses the book with Lydia Levy, founder of the African literature review website Omusana. She also has a doctorate in African Studies from Howard University.
And then get ready for next month’s pick: Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation by Anne Helen Petersen.
Transcript
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| 0:12.7 | soap operas aren't just some silly art form. They are significant. In this season of making, |
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| 0:22.3 | began, their social impact, and why these stories endure. Listen wherever you get your podcast. |
| 0:32.5 | From WBEZ Chicago, I'm Greta Johnson and you are listening to the Nerdat Book Club, which is just like a |
| 0:38.7 | normal book club, except you get to read the book whenever you want, which I guess maybe means |
| 0:42.7 | it's not like a book club at all. But anyway, regardless, we are glad to have you with us today. |
| 0:47.8 | This month, we are talking about Mazamengiste's novel, The Shadow King. As I say, it is a novel, |
| 0:53.4 | but it's based on some very real history. |
| 0:56.6 | It's about the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 and the scrappy army of underdogs who fought them, |
| 1:04.1 | some of whom were actually women. Critics loved this book. The NPR review called The Shadow |
| 1:09.9 | King a gorgeous meditation on memory, |
| 1:12.7 | war, and violence. And it's actually also shortlisted for the Booker Prize for this year. |
| 1:18.3 | So there is a spoiler-free interview with the author, Mazza, in the feed. So if you haven't read the book |
| 1:24.3 | yet and you don't want to hear any spoilers, that's a great place to start. If you haven't read the book yet and you don't want to hear any spoilers, that's a great place to start. |
| 1:29.1 | If you haven't read the book and you love spoilers and you want to tag along, that's great. |
| 1:33.1 | We are glad to have you and just know that we are about to unpack the entirety of this book. |
| 1:39.8 | Today, I'm joined by Lydia Levy, who's the founder of the Omusana Review. |
| 1:44.3 | That's a website dedicated to literature about Africa. |
| 1:47.0 | She's also got a doctorate in African Studies from Howard University and has studied a lot about African culture and development. |
| 1:55.0 | Lydia, hi. |
... |
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