Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Joel Whitney's genre-defying nonfiction work Flights creates an archetypal hero’s journey from the stories of progressive creators whose struggle for truth, and for freedom from persecution, sent them into literal and metaphorical exile. Whitney portrays a rich array of refugees all forced to flee homes and/or friends because of their progressive stance, including Angela Davis, Lorraine Hansberry, Graham Greene, Gabriel García Márquez, and many more. At once a group portrait of these geniuses of creative escape, Flights is also a prehistory (and indictment) of American mass surveillance, torture, censorship, fascism and political murders. Junot Diaz calls it "an absolutely overwhelming, magisterial tour-de-force." Whitney discusses his work, along with a reading and book signing.
Joel Whitney's genre-defying nonfiction work Flights creates an archetypal hero’s journey from the stories of progressive creators whose struggle for truth, and for freedom from persecution, sent them into literal and metaphorical exile. Whitney portrays a rich array of refugees all forced to flee homes and/or friends because of their progressive stance, including Angela Davis, Lorraine Hansberry, Graham Greene, Gabriel García Márquez, and many more. At once a group portrait of these geniuses of creative escape, Flights is also a prehistory (and indictment) of American mass surveillance, torture, censorship, fascism and political murders. Junot Diaz calls it "an absolutely overwhelming, magisterial tour-de-force." Whitney discusses his work, along with a reading and book signing.
