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bessadams's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, and Police brutality
Moderate: Gun violence and Violence
Minor: Racial slurs and Slavery
lori85's review against another edition
5.0
Every white person needs to read this book. I read all 225 pages in one sitting.
yellowchevron's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
skmiles's review against another edition
5.0
Important.
A compilation of vital writers that help explain, give voice to, and speak about the moment in which the book was written. Though haunting, at times, the diverse set of writers offers hope and a vision for the future.
A compilation of vital writers that help explain, give voice to, and speak about the moment in which the book was written. Though haunting, at times, the diverse set of writers offers hope and a vision for the future.
bibliozabs's review against another edition
4.0
It’s always hard to rate a collection bc they’re not all equal but this one was really well edited. Which of course - it’s Jesmyn Ward 🩷. Difficult topics clearly but moments of hope and humor. I alternated between audio and reading. One of the essays includes the photos of the murals so I recommend getting a copy so you can see those.
rsinclair6536's review against another edition
4.0
A wildly varied series of essays by some excellent writers. Through all of them, a white reader can learn the pain of being Black in America. A wonderful homage to Baldwin.
lesserjoke's review against another edition
4.0
Not every entry in this collection of essays and poems quite lands for me, but all told it's a powerful reflection from various African American writers near the start of the Black Lives Matter movement and just before the 2016 election -- when the white backlash to Obama's presidency was already gathering force but had not yet reached its peak or been widely recognized as the surge of racist resentment that it now so clearly is. Although I would hope this sort of perspective has become more widespread over the past five years, the contributors provide a valuable look at the daily difficulties of police harassment and what it's like for a contemporary black person, theoretically long after Jim Crow, to regularly witness the modern lynchings of young men like Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. Writing both for people with no idea of that experience and for those who may struggle to put it into words, editor Jesmyn Ward and the rest are less in direct conversation with James Baldwin's famous 20th-century piece than one might expect from the similar title, but still offer their own substantive meditations on race in America today.
[Content warning for slurs.]
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[Content warning for slurs.]
Find me on Patreon | Goodreads | Blog | Twitter