{"product_id":"word-warrior-9780252039874","title":"Word Warrior","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePosthumously inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2007, Richard Durham creatively chronicled and brought to life the significant events of his times. Durham''s trademark narrative style engaged listeners with fascinating characters, compelling details, and sharp images of pivotal moments in American and African American history and culture. \u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eWord Warrior\u003c\/i\u003e, award-winning radio producer Sonja D. Williams draws on archives and hard-to-access family records, as well as interviews with family and colleagues like Studs Terkel and Toni Morrison, to illuminate Durham''s astounding career. Durham paved the way for black journalists as a dramatist and a star investigative reporter and editor for the pioneering black newspapers the \u003ci\u003eChicago Defender\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eMuhammed Speaks\u003c\/i\u003e. Talented and versatile, he also created the acclaimed radio series \u003ci\u003eDestination Freedom\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eHere Comes Tomorrow\u003c\/i\u003e and wrote for popular radio fare like \u003ci\u003eThe Lone Ranger\u003c\/i\u003e. Incredi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Sonja Williams has written a book about Durham's life and work, cementing the brilliant journalist and activist's legacy.\"--\u003ci\u003eUprising Radio\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\"Thanks to this biography by Sonja D. Williams, a professor of communications at Howard University, Durham's contributions to our country's dramatic arts, journalism, trade unionism and African American political power will begin to earn the appreciation and admiration they deserve.\"--\u003ci\u003eAgainst the Current\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This admirable and engaging study of Durham's life and work fills a huge gap in American history, and it comes at a time where we are in desperate need of reminders that do more than give us hope, but also provide us with the examples of the ways in which agency can be infused into our racially contentious social landscape.\"--\u003ci\u003eRadio Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"In briskly energetic prose, Sonja D. Williams reveals the life of an important, but little-known, figure in twentieth century African American cultural and political history. From the Great Migration to the Black Power Movement, Richard Durham's story illuminates movements and events of momentous scope and significance.\"--Richard A. Courage, co-author of \u003ci\u003eThe Muse in Bronzeville: African American Creative Expression in Chicago, 1932–1950\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eWord Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio, and Freedom\u003c\/i\u003e is a remarkable contribution to the historical narrative, to our understanding of the long civil rights revolution.--\u003ci\u003ePeople's World\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"With this book, Williams . . . rescues a forgotten but important voice in the Civil Rights Movement. [A] well-written analytical profile of this important, versatile writer. Recommended.\"--\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Williams' book is a major contribution to media studies and provides one model for future media-history work grappling with the current dominant paradigms of media industry and production culture studies. . . . Williams' description of multiple social phenomena, packaged as a biography of an important civil rights figure in Chicago, will pack a strong enough punch to set a precedent for similar work.\"--\u003ci\u003eJournal of Radio \u0026amp; Audio Media\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Williams's \u003ci\u003eWord Warrior\u003c\/i\u003e is an engrossing, at times poetic excavation of one man's dealing with life and learning as an African American man.\" --\u003ci\u003eH-Net Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \"The enigmatic life of writer and radio [dramatist] Richard Durham has, for years, cried out for probing and understanding. Sonja D. Williams has answered the call with this fiercely smart and important book. It is an important achievement.\"--Wil Haygood, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Butler: A Witness to History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \"Sonja Williams' exhaustively researched biography of Richard Durham sheds valuable light on an inexcusably neglected historical figure. Throughout his many lives, including activism, writing, and broadcasting, Durham demonstrated the importance of narrative in the struggle for justice. As Williams proves, the right to tell the story is a critical part of the quest for equality and power--and those who fought for that right should be remembered with gratitude.\"--Jabari Asim, author of \u003ci\u003eWhat Obama Means\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \"Sonja Williams artfully links broadcasting pioneer Richard Durham to the key social, cultural, and political movements of mid-Twentieth-century America. In \u003ci\u003eWord Warrior\u003c\/i\u003e, Durham's fierce spirit, strategic mind, and creative genius leap to life as he navigates the streets, boardrooms, and radio studios of Chicago. Without this book, this very important story surely would have been lost.\"--A'Lelia Bundles, author of \u003ci\u003eOn Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \"Williams' book does smart and invaluable work not only about Durham and his particular talents and contributions, but about the black political and cultural left in Chicago during the span of his career.\"--Barbara D. Savage, author of \u003ci\u003eBroadcasting Freedom: Radio, War, and the Politics of Race, 1938–1948\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MO - University of Illinois Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51036825649495,"sku":"9780252039874","price":77.35,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780252039874.jpg?v=1750932670","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/word-warrior-9780252039874","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}