Paperback Cabaret

E8 City of Darkness, City of Light - Cast of Characters 1

It is the characters of the book that are receiving the majority of our attention in this recording.  Marge Piercy sets up our characters in their youth with imaginative glimpses into the earliest moments that may have influenced who they were becoming at the same time the revolution was unfolding.

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Our current book is City of Darkness, City of Light by Marge Piercy, an historical fiction novel using real people from the French Revolution as the main characters.  This is one of those complex topics that lead to the kinds of conversations people from the Enlightenment period would still recognize.  Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité were the words that drove the revolution, but for who and for how long?

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If you’re more of a video book review kind of person, we suggest you find the There’s No Bookclub YouTube channel. We encourage you to follow them as this group will be creating new projects on the regular and they have all been so fun.

Also, big love and gratitude to our mama bear company, Cozy Contorta.   For all projects that have come out so far, we suggest you click here: https://linktr.ee/cozycontorta

We do not receive any income from affiliate links at this time.

For anyone who might not know, the French Revolution was a violent moment for change with a bit of a lackluster wrap up.  Before we dove into our current book, City of Darkness, City of Light by Marge Piercy, we wanted to circle around some of our thoughts and questions regarding this moment in time, as well as the parallels so clearly visible in politics today: massive wealth disparity, exploitation of the impoverished, gender and race inequality.  Are we on the verge of another revolution, or did we ever properly conclude any of the attempts that rocked the Western world during the century of revolutions?

Our current book is City of Darkness, City of Light, is a historical fiction novel using real people from the French Revolution as the main characters.  This is one of those complex topics that lead to the kinds of conversations people from the Enlightenment period would still recognize.  Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité were the words that drove the revolution, but for who and for how long?

Follow us on Instagram @paperbackcabaret

If you’re more of a video book review kind of person, we suggest you find the There’s No Bookclub YouTube channel. We encourage you to follow them as this group will be creating new projects on the regular and they have all been so fun.

Also, big love and gratitude to our mama bear company, Cozy Contorta.   For all projects that have come out so far, we suggest you click here: https://linktr.ee/cozycontorta

We do not receive any income from affiliate links at this time.

I am absolutely thrilled to be joined by Dr. Deborah Bauer, Associate Professor of Modern European History, at Purdue University Fort Wayne, and author of Marianne Is Watching: Intelligence, Counterintelligence, and the Origins of the French Surveillance State.  She has kindly agreed to condense her extensive knowledge into an abbreviated version of the causes, trajectory, and a handful of the individuals that make up the French Revolution.  This is a rich and volatile time in Western History, with reverberations that ring through to present day.  

Our next book is City of Darkness, City of Light by Marge Piercy, an historical fiction novel using real people from the French Revolution as the main characters.  This is one of those complex topics that lead to the kinds of conversations people from the Enlightenment period would still recognize.  Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité were the words that drove the revolution, but for who and for how long?

Follow us on Instagram @paperbackcabaret

Big love and gratitude to our mama bear company, Cozy Contorta.   For all projects that have come out so far, we suggest you click here: https://linktr.ee/cozycontorta

We do not receive any income from affiliate links at this time.

Thank you Rebecca Traister for writing this book.  We needed it and many, many more people should add this eye opening book to their “must read” list.  There are benefits to stoking your anger and keeping it at a nice low burn, ready to roar when the moment calls for it.  Our discussion makes the full arc between despair and hope, we feel both keenly, but we lean more towards hope the more we learn.

Next week we have a discussion with Associate Professor of Modern European History,  Dr. Deborah Bauer of Purdue University Fort Wayne, author of Marianne Is Watching: Intelligence, Counterintelligence, and the Origins of the French Surveillance State.  She has kindly agreed to condense her extensive knowledge into an abbreviated version of the causes and trajectory of the French Revolution.

Our next book is City of Darkness, City of Light by Marge Piercy, an historical fiction novel using real people from the French Revolution as the main characters.  This is one of those complex topics that lead to the kinds of conversations people from the Enlightenment period would still recognize.  Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité were the words that drove the revolution, but for who and for how long?

Follow us on Instagram @paperbackcabaret

If you’re more of a video book review kind of person, we suggest you find the There’s No Bookclub YouTube channel. We encourage you to follow them as this group will be creating new projects on the regular and they have all been so fun.

Also, big love and gratitude to our mama bear company, Cozy Contorta.   For all projects that have come out so far, we suggest you click here: https://linktr.ee/cozycontorta

We do not receive any income from affiliate links at this time.

If a title ever summed up a topic we hold near and dear, it is Rebecca Traister's 2018 novel Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger. This week we cover Parts 1 and 2 of the book and next week we will be back to wrap it up.  Follow us to keep up with all new content and stay angry! 

Follow us on Instagram: @paperbackcabaret 

There’s no way we could wrap this up without talking about the pop culture interpretations of the Iliad that definitely took approaches far different than Pat Barker.  In particular we talk about the 2004 movie Troy and just a little bit about the new Netflix series Troy: Fall of a City. Spoilers all around on this episode.

Next week we cover Parts 1 and 2 in Rebecca Traister’s book, Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger.  It’s almost impossible to state how much this book fits the mood for us right now.

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If you’re interested in our discussion around Ray Colson’s The Underground Railroad you can find it on the There’s No Bookclub YouTube channel. We encourage you to follow them as this group will be creating new projects on the regular and they have all been so fun.  

You will find no glorification of ancient warfare here.  This is about the illogical scorched earth policy, the enslavement of women, and the pile of male bodies left behind rampaging war parties in the Bronze Age.  Through our conversation we are pulled in the direction of motherhood, enslavement, sexual assault, and the many voices that are unjustly silenced in warfare.

Next week we have a dip into pop culture and the way the Trojan war has been represented in the centuries since it is said to have taken place.

This is full spoilers for the book, and quite a few for the 2004 film Troy.

Follow us on Instagram @paperbackcabaret to find out what we will be reading and talking about as we move forward.

Episode one and this isn’t what we planned for.  We had worked out a list of books, schedules for recording and editing, as well as how we would begin promoting the new podcast.  But what we don’t plan for is always waiting to pounce and we could not set aside our anger to read or even think about our chosen book.  The day we recorded, seventy-two hours after the SCOTUS reversal of Roe v. Wade, we were sitting in a state of grief, shock, and, through all of it, seething anger.  If you are angry about this staggering attack on personal freedom, you are in excellent company.  If you aren’t, perhaps this is a good place to find out why so many people are.

Follow us on Instagram @paperbackcabaret to find out what we will be reading and talking about as we move forward.

A little sliver of an introduction to a new podcast. Here you'll find books, wits, and snark aplenty but, most importantly, this is a place to learn and grow through thoughtful conversation.