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"Banished" by Lauren Drain

    You've likely heard of the Westboro Baptist Church. Perhaps you've seen their pickets on the news, the members holding signs with offensive messages, protesting at events such as the funerals of soldiers, the 9-year old victim of the recent Tucson shooting, and Elizabeth Edwards, all in front of their grieving families.

The WBC is fervently anti-gay, anti-Semitic, and anti- practically everything and everyone. And they aren't going anywhere: in March, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the WBC's right to picket funerals.

Lauren Drain was thrust into the WBC at the age of 15, and then spat back out again seven years later. Banished is the first look inside the organization.

Joe talks to people on the radio for a living. In addition to countless impressive human "gets" - he has talked to a lot of Muppets. Joe grew up in Philadelphia, has been on the area airwaves for more than 25 years and currently lives in Washington County, NY with his wife, Kelly, and their dog, Brady. And yes, he reads every single book.
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