Netflix has made a great new series titled Transatlantic based the novel The Flight Portfolio by Julie Orringer. The streaming service has done an excellent film creation of this WWII story by staying close to the book. The seven part series released in April 2023 stars Cory Michael Smith as Varian Fry and Gillian Thomas as Madeline. Great casting!
Check our our overview of The Flight Portfolio and our review her novel The Invisible Bridge right here at GGR.
I always felt that The Invisible Bridge was also worthy of a screenplay but thrilled to see The Flight Portfolio now streaming. Orringer is a terrific writer.
HOW THE WORD IS PASSED. It is all in the telling and by whom. The Lost Cause myths remain. According to his travels and the first hand experiences author Clint Smith uncovers misinformation and obfuscation in the re-telling of the history of slavery in America. Deliberate distortion remains throughout the nation including at some of the most prominent historical sites but there is some good news in the efforts of a few to set the record straight.
Smith’s book is all about RECKONING and the nations failure to digest the accurate history of slavery. Smith visits the Whitney Plantation, Blandford Cemetery and the Angola Prison in Louisiana. His interviews include Galveston Island, Texas where Juneteenth was born, New York City and Goree island in Africa home to The House of Slaves and the infamous The Door of No Return.
Among the most potent of revelations in the book is Smith’s interviews and observations at Jefferson’s Monticello. He lays bare any illusions or myths about Jefferson’s deep and vile relationship with slavery. He exposes the hypocrisy of Jefferson’s life in facts and figures.
I urge those who wish to see the urgency of America reckoning with its history of slavery and who feel the need to undo the harm in perpetrating the Lost Cause to not miss a page of HOW THE WORD IS PASSED. You may also wish to search Ibram Kendi here in Gordons Good Reads.
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