In this edition of the BFG podcast–now with vastly improved sound quality!–host Neal Pollack welcomes the well-read Michael Washburn to discuss the work and legacy of the novelist Russell Banks, who died recently at the age of 82. Michael and Neal have nothing but praise for Banks's two best-known novels, Affliction and The Sweet Hereafter, both of which became popular and critically-acclaimed movies. But they also recommend you check out his novel Continental Drift, and Michael has special affection for Banks's short stories, which so accurately describe the struggles of working-class New Hampshire residents. They aren't so keen on his later works, when Banks drifted away from what he knows best, but he still leaves behind a ...