Voices from the Pandemic: Americans Tell Their Stories of Crisis, Courage and Resilience

From Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Eli Saslow, a powerful portrait of a country grappling with the pandemic, told through voices of people from all across America The Covid-19 pandemic was a world-shattering event, affecting everyone in the nation. From its first ominous stirrings, renowned journalist Eli Saslow began interviewing a cross-section of Americans, capturing their experiences in real time: An exhausted and anguished EMT risking his life in New York City; a grocery store owner feeding his neighborhood for free in locked-down New Orleans; an overwhelmed coroner in Georgia; a Maryland restaurateur forced to close his family business after forty-six years; an Arizona teacher wrestling with her fears and her obligations to her students; rural citizens adamant that the whole thing is a hoax, and retail workers attacked for asking people to wear masks; patients struggling to breathe and doctors desperately trying to save them. Through Saslow\u27s masterful, empathetic interviewing, we are given a kaleidoscopic picture of a people dealing with the unimaginable. These deeply personal accounts make for cathartic reading, as we see Americans at their worst, and at their resilient best.https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/dlpp_all/1802/thumbnail.jp

Ten Letters: The Stories Americans Tell Their President

Every day, President Obama read ten of the letters he received from citizens across America. Here are ten of those letters, along with President Obama\u27s responses and the stories behind them. The letters come from people of all ages, walks of life, and political points of view. Some are heart­breaking, some angry, some hopeful. Indeed, Obama reads as many letters addressed “Dear Jackass” as “Dear Mr. President.” Eli Saslow, a young and rising star at the Washington Post, became fascinated by the power of these letters and set out to find the stories behind them.https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/dlpp_all/1632/thumbnail.jp

American Hunger: The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Washington Post Series

In this Pulitzer Prize-winning collection, Washington Post reporter Eli Saslow traveled across the country over the course of a year—from Florida and Texas to Rhode Island and Tennessee—to examine the personal and political implications and repercussions of America\u27s growing food stamp program. Saslow shows us the extraordinary impact the arrival of food stamps has each month on a small town\u27s struggling economy, the difficult choices our representatives face in implementing this $78-billion program affecting millions of Americans, and the challenges American families, senior citizens, and children encounter every day in ensuring they have enough, and sometimes even anything to eat. These unsettling and eye-opening stories make for required reading, providing nuance and understanding to the complex matters of American poverty.https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/dlpp_all/1631/thumbnail.jp

Rising out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist

Derek Black grew up at the epicenter of white nationalism. His father founded Stormfront, the largest racist community on the Internet. His godfather, David Duke, was a KKK Grand Wizard. By the time Derek turned 19, he had become an elected politician with his own daily radio show - already regarded as the the leading light of the burgeoning white nationalist movement. We can infiltrate, Derek once told a crowd of white nationalists. We can take the country back. Then he went to college. Derek had been homeschooled by his parents, steeped in the culture of white supremacy, and he had rarely encountered diverse perspectives or direct outrage against his beliefs. At New College of Florida, he continued to broadcast his radio show in secret each morning, living a double life until a classmate uncovered his identity and sent an email to the entire school: Derek Black...white supremacist, radio host...New College student??? The ensuing uproar overtook one of the most liberal colleges in the country. Some students protested Derek\u27s presence on campus, forcing him to reconcile for the first time with the ugliness his beliefs. Other students found the courage to reach out to him, including an Orthodox Jew who invited Derek to attend weekly Shabbat dinners. It was because of those dinners - and the wide-ranging relationships formed at that table - that Derek started to question the science, history, and prejudices behind his worldview. As white nationalism infiltrated the political mainstream, Derek decided to confront the damage he had done. Rising out of Hatred tells the story of how white-supremacist ideas migrated from the far-right fringe to the White House through the intensely personal saga of one man who eventually disavowed everything he was taught to believe, at tremendous personal cost. With great empathy and narrative verve, Eli Saslow asks what Derek\u27s story can tell us about America\u27s increasingly divided nature. This is a book to help us understand the American moment and to help us better understand one another.https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/dlpp_all/1630/thumbnail.jp