A review by sarabz
The Beautiful Struggle by Ta-Nehisi Coates

4.0

It was great to read a memoir from the generation that was born from actors in the freedom struggles of the 60's and 70's. I think the in between stories, as opposed to the in the heat of the struggle at its height stories, are so important in finding hope and a path forward. Coates tells his story of coming up with consciousness during the violence of the 80's and coming to terms with his family's legacy. His father was a panther, ran an afro-centric press, and struggled to find ways to bring the awareness he gained in the black liberation struggle into his life with his family, even after the panthers were destroyed and his community was being torn apart - crack and guns and prisons were hitting urban black communities hard.

The story is about boys and men, which made me a little less interested in picking it up. And its true, his mom is the only woman that's really present in the story. But he's a great writer and story teller; there's some rhetorical gems in there that hit me hard. Its an excellent addition to the catalog of personal musings on struggle and finding ones place in it.