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Rumors and Conspiracy Theories in the Black Community.

Professor Patricia Turner, of the African American Studies department at University of California, Davis. Her new book "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (U. of California Press) examines the historical and social ramifications of rumor in African American culture. From Ku Klux Klan-owned clothing and cigarette companies to a military conspiracy to infect Africans with AIDS, she looks at the role of legend and rumor, finding it has long been a feature of the community. Turner argues that this widespread type of communication offers a means of coping for the community as they confront and absorb racial oppression.

18:47
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Other segments from the episode on September 30, 1993

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, September 30, 1993: Interview with Patricia Turner; Review of the television shows "The Simpsons" and "The Larry Sanders Show;" Interview with James Dickey; Review of…
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New Episodes of Old Favorites.

Television Critic David Bianculli on the new season opener of the Simpson's show, which begins tonight; and also the season's end of the Larry Sanders's Show, which stars Gary Shandling.

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Novelist and Poet James Dickey.

Novelist and Poet James Dickey. Now 70, the author of the famed novel "Deliverance" and many volumes of poetry has released his third work of fiction, "To the White Sea" (Houghton Mifflin): a taut tale told in bare language of one pilot's survival in the waning days of World War II.

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