Between the World and Me

 

From Goodreads:

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.

 

From Me:

4 stars.

Yes, it is powerful.

Yes, it is eye opening.

Yes, it is thought provoking.

Yes, it is well written and well spoken.

Yes, I think everyone should read it.

 

While I might have disagreed with a couple of his observations, I choose not to, because I have never walked in his shoes.

 

I just hope that somehow he can also share a sense of joy about the world to his son.

In some way.  Somehow.

 

The author narrated his own book and I think he did an outstanding job.

 

I chose to read this because I am participating in Nonfiction November and I've seen this on a blog or two and it got great reviews from the bloggers.  I'm so glad that I've taken part in this event--it has opened my eyes to so many great reads that I was unaware of.