In this edition of Madison Book Beat, host Andrew Thomas speaks with journalists Shibani Mahtani and Timothy McLaughlin for a conversation on their book Among the Braves: Hope, Struggle, and Exile in the Battle for Hong Kong and the Future of Global Democracy (2023, Hachette Books).
Among the Braves is a narrative history of the 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong told through the eyes of four activists named Finn, Tommy, Chu, and Gwyneth. Imbedded reporters Mahtani and McLaughlin give insight into the development and ultimate dissolution of a movement more than 150 years in the making. Among the Braves Deftly blends first-person accounts with the larger social, political, and historical forces shaping a popular movement. You can follow her @ShibaniMahtani
Shibani Mahtani is an international investigative correspondent for the Washington Post. She was previously the Post's Hong Kong and Southeast Asia bureau chief and a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal based in Singapore, Yangon, and Chicago. Her Hong Kong coverage was honored with prizes including a Human Rights Press Award for an investigation into police misconduct. She is a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. You can follow him @TMcLaughlin3
Timothy McLaughlin is a prize-winning contributing writer for The Atlantic. Previously he worked for Reuters news agency. His work has also appeared in publications including WIRED, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and Prospect. He has won multiple awards for his Hong Kong coverage, including two Best in Business Awards from the Society for Advancing Business Editing, and is a two-time finalist for The Livingston Award for International Reporting. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California. Mahtani and McLaughlin live in Singapore with their adopted Hong Kong village dog, Bean.
Image courtesy of Timothy McLaughlin
What Are You Reading?
A Musical Translation of Movement: Jérôme Camal on Guadeloupean Gwoka and (Post) Coloniality
Joyce Carol Oates, "Zero-Sum"
B. Pladek’s Magical Intersection Of Ecology And History
Jon Melrod's "Fighting Times" in Wisconsin
Novelist And Poet Quan Barry On Nonduality, Communicating Beyond Language, And Writing Across Genres
Poet Deshawn McKinney On Vulnerability As A Muscle
Scholar Nicole Fox On Memorials, Transitional Justice, And The Inescapability Of Memory
Michael Dorgan, "No Fight, No Blame: A Journalist's Life in Martial Arts" (part 2)
On (Short) Storytelling, with Wisconsin writer Steve Fox
The search for dignity in Palestine, with Christa Bruhn
Local Writer JK Cheema On Writing, Family, And Remembering The Past
Jon Shelton on "The Education Myth"
Writer John West On Paradox, Redemption, And Playing Bach
Mark Borthwick, "A Brave and Lovely Woman: Mamah Borthwick and Frank Lloyd Wright"
Public Lies and Professional Secrets in Cold War Washington
Scholar Sami Schalk On Black Disability Politics from the Black Panthers to the 2020 Uprising
Madison Infuses Scott Mitchel May’s New Novel, “Breakneck”
Writer Jeff Sharlet On Whiteness, Slow Civil War, And Harry Belafonte
Freedom Dreaming with Anisa Yudawanti and Amy Wilson
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Lit Society: Books and Drama
Ex Libris
Write The Book: Conversations on Craft
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Black Beauty
Fresh Air
Myths and Legends