Defining Moments in Black History

Defining Moments in Black History

Author: Dick Gregory

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2018-09-18

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 0062898930

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NAACP 2017 Image Award Winner With his trademark acerbic wit, incisive humor, and infectious paranoia, one of our foremost comedians and most politically engaged civil rights activists looks back at 100 key events from the complicated history of black America. A friend of luminaries including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Medgar Evers, and the forebear of today’s popular black comics, including Larry Wilmore, W. Kamau Bell, Damon Young, and Trevor Noah, Dick Gregory was a provocative and incisive cultural force for more than fifty years. As an entertainer, he always kept it indisputably real about race issues in America, fearlessly lacing laughter with hard truths. As a leading activist against injustice, he marched at Selma during the Civil Rights movement, organized student rallies to protest the Vietnam War; sat in at rallies for Native American and feminist rights; fought apartheid in South Africa; and participated in hunger strikes in support of Black Lives Matter. In this collection of thoughtful, provocative essays, Gregory charts the complex and often obscured history of the African American experience. In his unapologetically candid voice, he moves from African ancestry and surviving the Middle Passage to the enjoyment of bacon and everything pig, the headline-making shootings of black men, and the Black Lives Matter movement. A captivating journey through time, Defining Moments in Black History explores historical movements such as The Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance, as well as cultural touchstones such as Sidney Poitier winning the Best Actor Oscar for Lilies in the Field and Billie Holiday releasing Strange Fruit. An engaging look at black life that offers insightful commentary on the intricate history of the African American people, Defining Moments in Black History is an essential, no-holds-bar history lesson that will provoke, enlighten, and entertain.


Book Synopsis Defining Moments in Black History by : Dick Gregory

Download or read book Defining Moments in Black History written by Dick Gregory and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-09-18 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NAACP 2017 Image Award Winner With his trademark acerbic wit, incisive humor, and infectious paranoia, one of our foremost comedians and most politically engaged civil rights activists looks back at 100 key events from the complicated history of black America. A friend of luminaries including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Medgar Evers, and the forebear of today’s popular black comics, including Larry Wilmore, W. Kamau Bell, Damon Young, and Trevor Noah, Dick Gregory was a provocative and incisive cultural force for more than fifty years. As an entertainer, he always kept it indisputably real about race issues in America, fearlessly lacing laughter with hard truths. As a leading activist against injustice, he marched at Selma during the Civil Rights movement, organized student rallies to protest the Vietnam War; sat in at rallies for Native American and feminist rights; fought apartheid in South Africa; and participated in hunger strikes in support of Black Lives Matter. In this collection of thoughtful, provocative essays, Gregory charts the complex and often obscured history of the African American experience. In his unapologetically candid voice, he moves from African ancestry and surviving the Middle Passage to the enjoyment of bacon and everything pig, the headline-making shootings of black men, and the Black Lives Matter movement. A captivating journey through time, Defining Moments in Black History explores historical movements such as The Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance, as well as cultural touchstones such as Sidney Poitier winning the Best Actor Oscar for Lilies in the Field and Billie Holiday releasing Strange Fruit. An engaging look at black life that offers insightful commentary on the intricate history of the African American people, Defining Moments in Black History is an essential, no-holds-bar history lesson that will provoke, enlighten, and entertain.

Defining Moments

Defining Moments

Author: Kathleen Ann Clark

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press

Published: 2006-05-26

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 9780807876800

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The historical memory of the Civil War and Reconstruction has earned increasing attention from scholars. Only recently, however, have historians begun to explore African American efforts to interpret those events. With Defining Moments, Kathleen Clark shines new light on African American commemorative traditions in the South, where events such as Emancipation Day and Fourth of July ceremonies served as opportunities for African Americans to assert their own understandings of slavery, the Civil War, and Emancipation--efforts that were vital to the struggles to define, assert, and defend African American freedom and citizenship. Focusing on urban celebrations that drew crowds from surrounding rural areas, Clark finds that commemorations served as critical forums for African Americans to define themselves collectively. As they struggled to assert their freedom and citizenship, African Americans wrestled with issues such as the content and meaning of black history, class-inflected ideas of respectability and progress, and gendered notions of citizenship. Clark's examination of the people and events that shaped complex struggles over public self-representation in African American communities brings new understanding of southern black political culture in the decades following Emancipation and provides a more complete picture of historical memory in the South.


Book Synopsis Defining Moments by : Kathleen Ann Clark

Download or read book Defining Moments written by Kathleen Ann Clark and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2006-05-26 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The historical memory of the Civil War and Reconstruction has earned increasing attention from scholars. Only recently, however, have historians begun to explore African American efforts to interpret those events. With Defining Moments, Kathleen Clark shines new light on African American commemorative traditions in the South, where events such as Emancipation Day and Fourth of July ceremonies served as opportunities for African Americans to assert their own understandings of slavery, the Civil War, and Emancipation--efforts that were vital to the struggles to define, assert, and defend African American freedom and citizenship. Focusing on urban celebrations that drew crowds from surrounding rural areas, Clark finds that commemorations served as critical forums for African Americans to define themselves collectively. As they struggled to assert their freedom and citizenship, African Americans wrestled with issues such as the content and meaning of black history, class-inflected ideas of respectability and progress, and gendered notions of citizenship. Clark's examination of the people and events that shaped complex struggles over public self-representation in African American communities brings new understanding of southern black political culture in the decades following Emancipation and provides a more complete picture of historical memory in the South.

Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream

Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream

Author: Frank L. Douglas

Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Company

Published: 2018-11-03

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781480994812

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From growing up in poverty to developing drugs that fight diabetes, seizures, and cancer, Dr. Frank L. Douglas has lived a life based on values, hard work, and self-control. Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream is a reflection on the events and people that made him into the man he is. In 1963, the year of the murder of Medgar Evers, Civil Rights marches, and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, twenty-year-old Douglas arrived in the United States. A Fulbright scholar from British Guiana, Douglas studied engineering at Lehigh University, received his Ph.D. and M.D. from Cornell University, and did his Residency in Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins. A curious and motivated young man from a colonial country struggling for independence, Douglas was shocked by the racism he received from white Americans and the cultural prejudice he received from black Americans. Struggling with his faith and identity, Douglas decided to control his own future through grit, hard work, and the road less travelled. Intimate and honest, incisive and searching, Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream is a memoir of self-determination and blazing your own path in a narrow-minded world. About the Author Dr. Frank L. Douglas grew up in British Guiana with his mother and four siblings. His love of education earned him a Fulbright Scholarship and he came to America during the turbulent years of the 1960s. He worked at Ciba Geigy and Aventis, and was involved in pharmaceutical research for drugs that treat tuberculosis, arthritis, diabetes, seizures, cancer, and pulmonary embolism, among others. Douglas has received the Global Pharmaceutical Research and Development Director of the Year Award in 2001 and 2004; the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers in 2002; the Black History Maker Award in 2007; the Geoffrey Beene Foundation and GQ Magazine Rock Star of Science in 2010; and the Caribbean Heritage Award for Entrepreneurship in 2011 Douglas wrote Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream in honor of all who helped him on his journey.


Book Synopsis Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream by : Frank L. Douglas

Download or read book Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream written by Frank L. Douglas and published by Dorrance Publishing Company. This book was released on 2018-11-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From growing up in poverty to developing drugs that fight diabetes, seizures, and cancer, Dr. Frank L. Douglas has lived a life based on values, hard work, and self-control. Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream is a reflection on the events and people that made him into the man he is. In 1963, the year of the murder of Medgar Evers, Civil Rights marches, and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, twenty-year-old Douglas arrived in the United States. A Fulbright scholar from British Guiana, Douglas studied engineering at Lehigh University, received his Ph.D. and M.D. from Cornell University, and did his Residency in Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins. A curious and motivated young man from a colonial country struggling for independence, Douglas was shocked by the racism he received from white Americans and the cultural prejudice he received from black Americans. Struggling with his faith and identity, Douglas decided to control his own future through grit, hard work, and the road less travelled. Intimate and honest, incisive and searching, Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream is a memoir of self-determination and blazing your own path in a narrow-minded world. About the Author Dr. Frank L. Douglas grew up in British Guiana with his mother and four siblings. His love of education earned him a Fulbright Scholarship and he came to America during the turbulent years of the 1960s. He worked at Ciba Geigy and Aventis, and was involved in pharmaceutical research for drugs that treat tuberculosis, arthritis, diabetes, seizures, cancer, and pulmonary embolism, among others. Douglas has received the Global Pharmaceutical Research and Development Director of the Year Award in 2001 and 2004; the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers in 2002; the Black History Maker Award in 2007; the Geoffrey Beene Foundation and GQ Magazine Rock Star of Science in 2010; and the Caribbean Heritage Award for Entrepreneurship in 2011 Douglas wrote Defining Moments of a Free Man from a Black Stream in honor of all who helped him on his journey.

Crucial Moments

Crucial Moments

Author: Benjamin Baker

Publisher: Review and Herald Pub Assoc

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 9780828018821

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The black heritage of radical faith, fervency, and vehement boldness is an important aspect of Adventist history. In stories that excite, provoke, and instruct, Benjamin Baker portrays the 12 most significant events in the history of black Seventh-day Adventists.


Book Synopsis Crucial Moments by : Benjamin Baker

Download or read book Crucial Moments written by Benjamin Baker and published by Review and Herald Pub Assoc. This book was released on 2005 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The black heritage of radical faith, fervency, and vehement boldness is an important aspect of Adventist history. In stories that excite, provoke, and instruct, Benjamin Baker portrays the 12 most significant events in the history of black Seventh-day Adventists.

The Black Columbiad

The Black Columbiad

Author: Werner Sollors

Publisher:

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 420

ISBN-13:

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After a long and painful transatlantic passage, African captives reached a continent they hadn't even known existed, where they were treated in ways that broke every law of civilization as they understood it. This was the discovery of America for a good number of our ancestors, one quite different from the "paradise" Columbus heralded but no less instrumental in shaping the country's history. What finding the New World meant to those who never sought it, and how they made the hostile, unfamiliar continent their own, is the subject of this volume, the first truly international collection of essays on African American literature and culture. Distinguished scholars, critics, and writers from around the world gather here to examine a great variety of moments that have defined the African American experience. What were the values, images, and vocabulary that accompanied African "explorers" on their terrifying Columbiad, and what new forms did they develop to re-invent America from a black perspective? How did an extremely heterogeneous group of African pioneers remake themselves as African Americans? The authors search out answers in such diverse areas as slavery, the transatlantic tradition, urbanization, rape and lynching, gender, Paris, periodicals, festive moments, a Berlin ethnologist, Afrocentrism, Mark Twain, Spain, Casablanca, orality, the 1960s, Black-Jewish relations, television images, comedy, and magic. William Wells Brown, Frank Webb, W. E. B. Du Bois, Alain Locke, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, Etheridge Knight, Ishmael Reed, Toni Morrison, Gloria Naylor, and Charles Johnson are among the many writers they discuss in detail. The result, a landmark text in African American studies, reveals, within a broader context than ever before, the great and often unpredictable variety of complex cultural forces that have been at work in black America.


Book Synopsis The Black Columbiad by : Werner Sollors

Download or read book The Black Columbiad written by Werner Sollors and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After a long and painful transatlantic passage, African captives reached a continent they hadn't even known existed, where they were treated in ways that broke every law of civilization as they understood it. This was the discovery of America for a good number of our ancestors, one quite different from the "paradise" Columbus heralded but no less instrumental in shaping the country's history. What finding the New World meant to those who never sought it, and how they made the hostile, unfamiliar continent their own, is the subject of this volume, the first truly international collection of essays on African American literature and culture. Distinguished scholars, critics, and writers from around the world gather here to examine a great variety of moments that have defined the African American experience. What were the values, images, and vocabulary that accompanied African "explorers" on their terrifying Columbiad, and what new forms did they develop to re-invent America from a black perspective? How did an extremely heterogeneous group of African pioneers remake themselves as African Americans? The authors search out answers in such diverse areas as slavery, the transatlantic tradition, urbanization, rape and lynching, gender, Paris, periodicals, festive moments, a Berlin ethnologist, Afrocentrism, Mark Twain, Spain, Casablanca, orality, the 1960s, Black-Jewish relations, television images, comedy, and magic. William Wells Brown, Frank Webb, W. E. B. Du Bois, Alain Locke, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, Etheridge Knight, Ishmael Reed, Toni Morrison, Gloria Naylor, and Charles Johnson are among the many writers they discuss in detail. The result, a landmark text in African American studies, reveals, within a broader context than ever before, the great and often unpredictable variety of complex cultural forces that have been at work in black America.

No More Lies

No More Lies

Author: Dick Gregory

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2021-02-16

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 0063042592

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Republished as part of Amistad’s Literary Revival Program, the groundbreaking, bestselling look at history from the perspective of African Americans: an essential classic that continues to speak to us today, written by the voice of black consciousness, Dick Gregory—the incomparable satirist, human rights and environmental activist, health advocate, social justice champion, and NAACP Image Award–winning author. In 1972, during the Black Power Movement, iconoclast Dick Gregory challenged one of the foundations of America itself—its history, which had been written almost exclusively from the white male perspective. In No More Lies, this true trailblazer gave voice to African Americans, speaking their truth about the past and race relations in the United States. No More Lies offers this incomparable satirist’s intellectual, conspiratorial, and humorous spin on the facts. No subject is off limits from his critical eye—Gregory examines numerous aspects of culture and history, from the slave trade, police brutality, the wretchedness of working-class life and labor unions to the 1968 Civil Rights Act, the Founding Fathers, “happy slaves,” and entrepreneurs. Although this absorbing book is more than forty years old, its provocative truths continue to reverberate in our lives today. With No More Lies, Gregory inspire a new generation to connect what is happening today with what has happened in the past.


Book Synopsis No More Lies by : Dick Gregory

Download or read book No More Lies written by Dick Gregory and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2021-02-16 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Republished as part of Amistad’s Literary Revival Program, the groundbreaking, bestselling look at history from the perspective of African Americans: an essential classic that continues to speak to us today, written by the voice of black consciousness, Dick Gregory—the incomparable satirist, human rights and environmental activist, health advocate, social justice champion, and NAACP Image Award–winning author. In 1972, during the Black Power Movement, iconoclast Dick Gregory challenged one of the foundations of America itself—its history, which had been written almost exclusively from the white male perspective. In No More Lies, this true trailblazer gave voice to African Americans, speaking their truth about the past and race relations in the United States. No More Lies offers this incomparable satirist’s intellectual, conspiratorial, and humorous spin on the facts. No subject is off limits from his critical eye—Gregory examines numerous aspects of culture and history, from the slave trade, police brutality, the wretchedness of working-class life and labor unions to the 1968 Civil Rights Act, the Founding Fathers, “happy slaves,” and entrepreneurs. Although this absorbing book is more than forty years old, its provocative truths continue to reverberate in our lives today. With No More Lies, Gregory inspire a new generation to connect what is happening today with what has happened in the past.

Defining Moments

Defining Moments

Author: Marius Barnard

Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa

Published: 2011-05-27

Total Pages: 488

ISBN-13: 1770222014

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Marius Barnard is best known as a member of the pioneering medical team that performed the world’s first human heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital in 1967, with his brother Chris. But his achievements extended into other spheres. He was an active anti-apartheid campaigner and MP for the Progressive Federal Party, he worked to improve cardiac surgery standards behind the Iron Curtain and globally, and he played a leading role in the creation of critical illness insurance - his invention, and one that has directly benefited the sick around the world. From humble beginnings as the son of missionary parents in the dusty Karoo town of Beaufort West to his position as one of the world’s leading cardiac surgeons, Marius Barnard’s story is a fascinating and remarkable chronicle of personal determination and courage. It is one of few first-hand accounts of the inaugural human heart transplant and its far-reaching repercussions, both in the world of medicine and in the private lives of its pioneers. In this sincere and deeply personal memoir, Barnard speaks frankly about his relationships with his brother, his colleagues and his adversaries, and describes with humility his fourteen-year struggle with cancer. With candour, authenticity and charm, Defining Moments presents the formidable challenges and spellbinding successes in the life of this international medical icon.


Book Synopsis Defining Moments by : Marius Barnard

Download or read book Defining Moments written by Marius Barnard and published by Penguin Random House South Africa. This book was released on 2011-05-27 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Marius Barnard is best known as a member of the pioneering medical team that performed the world’s first human heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital in 1967, with his brother Chris. But his achievements extended into other spheres. He was an active anti-apartheid campaigner and MP for the Progressive Federal Party, he worked to improve cardiac surgery standards behind the Iron Curtain and globally, and he played a leading role in the creation of critical illness insurance - his invention, and one that has directly benefited the sick around the world. From humble beginnings as the son of missionary parents in the dusty Karoo town of Beaufort West to his position as one of the world’s leading cardiac surgeons, Marius Barnard’s story is a fascinating and remarkable chronicle of personal determination and courage. It is one of few first-hand accounts of the inaugural human heart transplant and its far-reaching repercussions, both in the world of medicine and in the private lives of its pioneers. In this sincere and deeply personal memoir, Barnard speaks frankly about his relationships with his brother, his colleagues and his adversaries, and describes with humility his fourteen-year struggle with cancer. With candour, authenticity and charm, Defining Moments presents the formidable challenges and spellbinding successes in the life of this international medical icon.

Defining Moments

Defining Moments

Author: Ben Burgess Jr.

Publisher: Urban Renaissance

Published: 2020-04-28

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 1645560465

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When the prestigious law firm of Wayne, Rothstein, and Lincoln catches two major cases—a rape case against a white NBA star who allegedly raped a black stripper, and a murder case against a black rapper who allegedly killed a gay couple and two policemen—Bill O'Neil and Ben Turner are tasked with handling these racially charged litigations. The cases hit emotional chords with the two lawyers and force them to reckon with their interracial relationships and families. Will the racial tension of their cases destroy them or make them stronger?


Book Synopsis Defining Moments by : Ben Burgess Jr.

Download or read book Defining Moments written by Ben Burgess Jr. and published by Urban Renaissance. This book was released on 2020-04-28 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the prestigious law firm of Wayne, Rothstein, and Lincoln catches two major cases—a rape case against a white NBA star who allegedly raped a black stripper, and a murder case against a black rapper who allegedly killed a gay couple and two policemen—Bill O'Neil and Ben Turner are tasked with handling these racially charged litigations. The cases hit emotional chords with the two lawyers and force them to reckon with their interracial relationships and families. Will the racial tension of their cases destroy them or make them stronger?

Defining Moments in History

Defining Moments in History

Author: Bianca Jackson

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781844036394

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Enchanced by more than 350 archival images, offers a decade by decade review of the most significant historical, political, social, and cultural events of the last one hundred years.


Book Synopsis Defining Moments in History by : Bianca Jackson

Download or read book Defining Moments in History written by Bianca Jackson and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Enchanced by more than 350 archival images, offers a decade by decade review of the most significant historical, political, social, and cultural events of the last one hundred years.

Between the World and Me

Between the World and Me

Author: Ta-Nehisi Coates

Publisher: One World

Published: 2015-07-14

Total Pages: 163

ISBN-13: 0679645985

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#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.


Book Synopsis Between the World and Me by : Ta-Nehisi Coates

Download or read book Between the World and Me written by Ta-Nehisi Coates and published by One World. This book was released on 2015-07-14 with total page 163 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #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.