Books That Shaped My World

Policy Matters

In May 2020, Dr. Caleb McDaniel, the Mary Gibbs Jones Professor of Humanities and current chair of Rice University's History Department, became the first Rice professor to be honored with the Pulitzer Prize. His award-winning book, Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America, chronicles the life of Henrietta Wood, a freed slave who successfully sued one of her former owners. Since receiving the Pulitzer, Dr. McDaniel's book has only become more relevant in the midst of important conversations about racial justice in modern-day America.

This podcast originally took place as an event entitled “Books That Shaped My World,” co-sponsored by Rice's Fondren Library and the Baker Institute, in which Dr. McDaniel was interviewed by Baker Institute Academic Affairs Director Dr. Allen Matusow. The Baker Institute thanks Fondren Library and Dr. McDaniel for making this unique event possible.