Penn State Berks professor, Dr. Thomas Jay Lynn, joins us on the front porch to discuss Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Tom's book, Chinua Achebe and the Politics of Narration: Envisioning Language, has been called "a notable contribution to Achebe studies." Tom takes us deep into the world of Things Fall Apart and highlights important and lasting contributions Achebe made to world literature and the West's understanding of Africa and the impacts of colonization. We learn more about Achebe's Igbo way of viewing the duality of life and how that duality is represented in his writing and his very flawed main character, Okonkwo.

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is the oldest book we've discussed on the front porch; it was published in 1958 just as the European colonization of Africa was being dismantled. The book's setting is the beginning of colonization in the 1880's in what is now Nigeria, but was then Igboland. Achebe immerses us deeply into the culture of the Igbo people through the eyes of the esteemed, but highly flawed, Okonkwo. Near the end of the book, British missionaries and courts arrive and Okonkwo must decide how he will save his village and his way of life.

Picking up where Patrick Radden Keefe’s book Empire of Pain left off, journalist Aneri Pattani brings us up to date with the latest developments for Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family. Aneri is KFF Health News' award-winning senior correspondent. For the past two years, Aneri has been following the opioid settlement and the use of settlement funds. In June 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Sackler family could not claim immunity from lawsuits through the bankruptcy filing of their company, Purdue Pharma. This decision means the Sackler family is now vulnerable to civil suits and that the previous $4 billion settlement will likely be renegotiated. It's complicated but Aneri explains it all in a logical and accessible way.