Ep. 166 Who Do We Want to Be with Mychal Denzel Smith

Our guest this week is Mychal Denzel Smith, the author of one of Traci’s favorite books from 2020, Stakes is High. Mychal’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and many other publications, and now he hosts the Open Form podcast. Today we talk about the difference between accountability and punishment, abolition, and what it means to want better for America.

The Stacks Book Club selection for June is The Undying by Anne Boyer. We will discuss the book with Mychal Denzel Smith on Wednesday June 30th.

LISTEN NOW

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Overcast | Stitcher

Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes and on Bookshop.org and Amazon

• Stakes is High by Mychal Denzel Smith

• Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching by Mychal Denzel Smith

• Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper

• Perfect Peace by Daniel Black

• Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn

• Educated by Tara Westover

• Untamed by Glennon Doyle

• The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Walton

• The Other Side by Lacy M. Johnson

• The Reckonings by Lacy M. Johnson

• Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

• The Mothers by Brit Bennett

• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

• Heavy by Kiese Laymon

• Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward

• Self-Portrait in Black and White by Thomas Chatterton Williams

• One Drop by Yaba Blay

• The Vulture by Gil Scott-Heron

• The Nigger Factory by Gil Scott-Heron

• A Little Devil in America by Hanif Abdurraqib

• Finna by Nate Marshall

• In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

• Long Division by Kiese Laymon

• Bird Uncaged by Marlon Peterson

• The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broome

• Virtue by Hermione Hoby

• Thick by Tressie McMillan Cottom

• Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

• Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

• James Baldwin

• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

• The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

• I'm Telling the Truth, But I'm Lying by Bassey Ikpi

• The Undying by Anne Boyer

• Blood in the Water by Heather Ann Thompson

• Fredrick Douglas by David W. Blight

• Evicted by Matthew Desmond

• Race Matters by Cornel West

• Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi

• Open Form (Mychal Denzel Smith, Lit Hub Radio)

• The Grio

• The Root

• The Guardian

• The Nation

• Jamilah Lemieux

• Jamilah Lemieux (Instagram)

• Joy Reid

• Open Form (Mychal Denzel Smith)

• Rocky III (Sylvester Stallone, 1982)

• A League of Their Own (Penny Marshall, 1992)

• Ask the Stacks

• Wu-Tang Clan

• Merry Clayton

• Gimme Shelter (The Rolling Stones, 1969)

• Tressie McMillan Cottom (Twitter)

• "Ep. 165 Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy -- The Stacks Book Club (Jenny Lee)" (The Stacks)

• The Pulitzer Prize General Nonfiction

• Tavis Smiley

• The Kirkus Prize

---

To support The Stacks and find out more from this week’s sponsors, click here.

Connect with Mychal: Twitter | Instagram | Website | Open Form Podcast
Connect with The Stacks: Instagram | Twitter | Shop | Patreon | Goodreads | Substack | Subscribe

To contribute to The Stacks, join The Stacks Pack, and get exclusive perks, check out our Patreon page. If you prefer to support the show with a one time contribution go to paypal.me/thestackspod.

The Stacks participates in affiliate programs. We receive a small commission when products are purchased through links on this website.

---