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Things Fell Apart

S1. Ep 2: Dirty Books

Things Fell Apart

BBC

Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.61.2K Ratings

🗓️ 25 January 2022

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

1974. A church minister's wife in West Virginia learns of a brand new curriculum being introduced into her children's school. So she decides to read all 325 new textbooks herself. What she discovers horrifies her so much she instigates a State-wide insurrection. But were some of her concerns based on a misunderstanding?

Written and presented by Jon Ronson Produced by Sarah Shebbeare Assistant Producer Sam Peach Original music by Phil Channell

With thanks to Trey Kay for helping us tell this story.

Transcript

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0:00.0

You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and maybe it's when I had a hand in.

0:04.0

I'm Tammy Walker and I produce podcasts for the BBC.

0:08.0

My role is to give new and diverse creators a voice with the opportunity to build a career.

0:12.0

That's the thing I love about podcasts.

0:14.4

You start with just a good idea, but then you have the space to see where it goes.

0:18.4

And doing that at the BBC means we can really run with the best stories

0:21.9

while developing the most unique audio talent.

0:24.8

So if you like what you hear, why not check out the huge range of podcast we've got on BBC Sounds.

0:31.6

BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.

0:35.0

From BBC Radio 4, this is Things Fell Apart.

0:39.0

Strange Tales from the culture wars. I'm John Ronson, a writer living in America, the land where culture wars begin.

0:53.0

And by culture wars, I mean almost everything that people yell at each other about on social media.

0:59.0

We want to take mass off our children. That should be our choice. You are a white privileged male who has

1:05.0

no experience being willing. I can't help what I am. I was born like this.

1:09.9

I'm not saying that people should not be allowed to go through that procedure.

1:15.4

What I'm saying is it doesn't make them a woman.

1:16.9

It happens to be an opinion.

1:19.4

These wars can obsess us.

1:21.5

It can consume our lives and tear families apart. I was curious to learn how things

1:28.0

fell apart and so I went back in history to find the origin stories, the pebbles thrown in the pond, creating the ripples.

1:36.0

I had no idea what I would find, but I've uncovered some strange and unexpected tales of real consequence.

1:49.0

This story is about how in a culture war,

...

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