When the United States was formed, says scholar and author Andrew DelBanco, we weren't really united and fundamentally two countries. Slavery was bedrock to the southern economy, not so in the North. DelBanco focuses on policy over how to handle fugitive slaves to tell the story of the nation's struggle from its founding to the Civil War in his new book, "The War Before the War," winner of the 2019 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for nonfiction. DelBanco joins us for conversation next. We'll bring you conversations with all of the Anisfield-Wolf winners who were honored at a Playhouse Square ceremony in Cleveland: Sonia Sanchez for lifetime achievement, Tommy Orange for fiction and, for poetry, former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith.
For More Information:
Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards site
Andrew Delbanco, Author, "The War Before the War", Anisfield-Wolf Book Award Winner, Non-fiction, 2019
Sonia Sanchez, Poet, Anisfield-Wolf Book Award Winner, Lifetime Achievement, 2019
Tracy K. Smith, Author, "Wade in the Water," Anisfield-Wolf Book Award Winner, Poetry, 2019
Tommy Orange, Author, "There, There," Anisfield-Wolf Book Award Winner, Fiction, 2019