Breathe: A Letter to My Sons2020 Chautauqua Prize Finalist 2020 NAACP Image Award Nominee - Outstanding Literary Work (Nonfiction) Best-of Lists: Best Nonfiction Books of 2019 (Kirkus Reviews) · 25 Can't-Miss Books of 2019 (The Undefeated) Explores the terror, grace, and beauty of coming of age as a Black person in contemporary America and what it means to parent our children in a persistently unjust world. Emotionally raw and deeply reflective, Imani Perry issues an unflinching challenge to society to see Black children as deserving of humanity. She admits fear and frustration for her African American sons in a society that is increasingly racist and at times seems irredeemable. However, as a mother, feminist, writer, and intellectual, Perry offers an unfettered expression of love—finding beauty and possibility in life—and she exhorts her children and their peers to find the courage to chart their own paths and find steady footing and inspiration in Black tradition. Perry draws upon the ideas of figures such as James Baldwin, W. E. B. DuBois, Emily Dickinson, Toni Morrison, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Ida B. Wells. She shares vulnerabilities and insight from her own life and from encounters in places as varied as the West Side of Chicago; Birmingham, Alabama; and New England prep schools. With original art for the cover by Ekua Holmes, Breathe offers a broader meditation on race, gender, and the meaning of a life well lived and is also an unforgettable lesson in Black resistance and resilience. |
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User Review - Seventyserpents - LibraryThingI adored this book. It's definitely one of the best I have read in quite a while. Honestly, I cannot believe that Imani Perry was concerned that her sons might grow to hate the book she wrote for them ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - mclane - LibraryThingImani Perry's book, "Breathe: A Letter to my Sons" should be read by every American who who would like, in some small way, to try to understand what it is like to be a black American in the 21st ... Read full review
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Common terms and phrases
African Alabama American answer arms asked baby beat beautiful become believe better Black body bones born bound boys Breathe called child course death don't dream eyes face fact failed father fear feel freedom Freeman friends gift girl give Golden grace grandmother growing hair hands happened head heart hold hope human imagination inside Issa June Jordan keep knew laughed learned living looked matter means mind moments mother move never night once parents past Perry person play possibility question remember remind sense simply sitting smile someone Sometimes song sons sound speak spirit stand stop story sweet talking teach teacher tell things told took true truth turn walk watched witness wrong young
Bibliographic information
| Title | Breathe: A Letter to My Sons |
| Author | Imani Perry |
| Publisher | Beacon Press, 2019 |
| ISBN | 0807076562, 9780807076569 |
| Length | 184 pages |
| Subjects | › › › Biography & Autobiography / Cultural, Ethnic & Regional / African American & Black Social Science / Discrimination Social Science / Ethnic Studies / American / African American & Black Studies |
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