Between the World and Me#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • NAMED ONE OF TIME’S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE • PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF OPRAH’S “BOOKS THAT HELP ME THROUGH” • NOW AN HBO ORIGINAL SPECIAL EVENT Hailed by Toni Morrison as “required reading,” a bold and personal literary exploration of America’s racial history by “the most important essayist in a generation and a writer who changed the national political conversation about race” (Rolling Stone) NAMED ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY CNN • NAMED ONE OF PASTE’S BEST MEMOIRS OF THE DECADE • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • O: The Oprah Magazine • The Washington Post • People • Entertainment Weekly • Vogue • Los Angeles Times • San Francisco Chronicle • Chicago Tribune • New York • Newsday • Library Journal • Publishers Weekly In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden? Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - SqueakyChu - LibraryThingI chose this book to read in my quest to read more books by black authors. it is written as a letter from Ta-Nehisi Coates to his son about the divide between the black and white worlds. Sadly, I ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - chuff - LibraryThingCoates is certainly a talented writer. I was moved by this account, which similar to the classic The Fire Next Time, takes the form of a letter from a father to his son. I do not recall ever reading an entire book in a single day. That says all I feel I need to say about this one. Read full review
Contents
Section 18 | 90 |
Section 19 | 93 |
Section 20 | 96 |
Section 21 | 101 |
Section 22 | 104 |
Section 23 | 107 |
Section 24 | 108 |
Section 25 | 109 |
Section 9 | 44 |
Section 10 | 48 |
Section 11 | 63 |
Section 12 | 67 |
Section 13 | 68 |
Section 14 | 71 |
Section 15 | 73 |
Section 16 | 75 |
Section 17 | 79 |
Section 26 | 111 |
Section 27 | 124 |
Section 28 | 135 |
Section 29 | 139 |
Section 30 | 144 |
Section 31 | 147 |
Section 32 | 153 |
Section 33 | 155 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
afraid American answer asked Baltimore beautiful believe black body Brown built child Civil claim death Dream enslaved error escape everything eyes face fact father fear feel felt forced friends galaxy girl guns hands hard head heard held Howard human imagine killed kind knew known language laws learned live look lost Malcolm matter mean Mecca mother murdered never officer once parents particular past Perhaps plunder police Prince Jones pulled question raised remember returned rules schools seemed seen sense shot side sitting someone speak spoke standing stood story streets struggle sure talk tell things thought tion told took turned understand walk wanted watching West who'd woman wondered write York young