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A review by gregzimmerman
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
5.0
"Writing is a powerful tool of politics."
This tiny book is indeed powerful. It's part travelogue, part history, and part treatise on the purpose and virtue (or not) of writing. Coates travels to Senegal, a small town in South Carolina, and Palestine to examine injustice, racism, how these places and their histories have been written about in the past, how that's influenced injustice in the present, and further, how these places and their injustices are being written about now.
I've found Coates to be a little bit of tough hang in the past, but this is decidedly not. I tore through each of these sections. The middle session about going to South Carolina to support a librarian being attacked by her community for standing up for books they're trying to ban, including Coates's own was particularly riveting. The last and longest section about a trip to Palestine (well before the current genocide in Gaza) is a must-read for anyone who needs more context for current events.
Overall, yes, for writers, journalists, or anyone with an interest in how stories get told, this is a must-read. I loved this.
This tiny book is indeed powerful. It's part travelogue, part history, and part treatise on the purpose and virtue (or not) of writing. Coates travels to Senegal, a small town in South Carolina, and Palestine to examine injustice, racism, how these places and their histories have been written about in the past, how that's influenced injustice in the present, and further, how these places and their injustices are being written about now.
I've found Coates to be a little bit of tough hang in the past, but this is decidedly not. I tore through each of these sections. The middle session about going to South Carolina to support a librarian being attacked by her community for standing up for books they're trying to ban, including Coates's own was particularly riveting. The last and longest section about a trip to Palestine (well before the current genocide in Gaza) is a must-read for anyone who needs more context for current events.
Overall, yes, for writers, journalists, or anyone with an interest in how stories get told, this is a must-read. I loved this.