Is a Book Saying So Special?

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Tiffany Jenkins' new book is a history of museums and the desire to collect. She talks about Hans Sloan, whose collection becomes the British Museum when he dies. I've always thought a book says something sacred is something that you don't put a buttered muffin on and you don't throw them. Why do we think a book says so special is so potentially transformed?

Dwayne Betts was a 16-year-old in solitary confinement when a fellow inmate slid a book of poetry under his cell door. What happened next is an astounding story of transformation: from desperation to the discovery of beauty, even behind bars. Listen as the lawyer, prison reform advocate, and award-winning poet explains to EconTalk host Russ Roberts why he's on a mission to bring books--and beauty--into prisons. They also discuss Betts's latest book, Redaction, a collaboration with the artist Titus Kaphar.