#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 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 … 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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This book gave me insight into the incredible challenges of a young black man trying to survive and thrive in world that is stacked against him in terms of race and violence. It was inspiring to learn how Ta’Nehisi was able (with the help of his father and the women around him) to overcome the barriers and become the person he is today. Congratulations! It should never be this difficult!
One of the best books a white person can read to understand what it is like to be black in America.
This book is ‘tragic’ because it’s a very personal recounting of experiences NOBODY should have to have, in this day and age….Left me feeling sadness and compassion for Mr. Coates.
I was confused while reading this book, sadly.
An informative perspective of the U.S culture
Mr. Coates has some very insightful observations about what it means to be black in America today. John Griffin wrote “Black Like Me” 60 years ago and the book by Mr. Coates is as groundbreaking. This is an important book to read, digest and to discuss with others, for anyone who wants to learn more about how racial minorities are treated in America and some of the challenges they face.
Great read. Powerful. Every black male needs to read it. Anyone with a black son, nephew, grandson, mentee and so on.
It showed a perspective rarely seen other than that of James Baldwin of what it is to be Black in America.
Eye-opening account of racial issues in contemporary American society.
Needlessly wordy. Great topic about the depth of racism and injustice to african Americans but lost in excessive detail that works against appreciating the magnitude of this important issue of American History.
Coates’s book written for his son is gorgeous, poetic, hard to read, and riveting. Powerful. Meaningful. It’s on the shelf of books that make people more human. I couldn’t put it down. Didn’t want it to end. If you’ve taken the red pill or want to, this book is it. Toni Morrison says it’s required reading. If you don’t listen to me, listen to her.
Terrible read it for bookgroup. He has a bad attitude and I don’t know why it’s popular.
This book, written as a letter from a father to his son, about what it means to be an African American, is thought provoking. The conflict, confrontations and sometimes tragedies this author describes help to understand the life he lives everyday.
I happen to like Coates a LOT, knowing that some disagree with me.
Read and realize just what the author had in mind for you. Strong and hopeful for better times.
One needs to be in a quiet spot to read and think about every word in every sentence.
Not FUN to read…but absolutely true, riveting, powerful. Should be required for all Americans.
Thought provoking
White people like me should read this book and ponder what Coates has to say about the experience of people of color in the United States.
Couldn’t get past the first few pages.