paperback
English language
Published Sept. 5, 2017 by Random House LCC US.
Between the World and Me is a 2015 nonfiction book written by American author Ta-Nehisi Coates and published by Spiegel & Grau. It is written as a letter to the author's teenage son about the feelings, symbolism, and realities associated with being Black in the United States. Coates recapitulates American history and explains to his son the "racist violence that has been woven into American culture." Coates draws from an abridged, autobiographical account of his youth in Baltimore, detailing the ways in which institutions like the school, the police, and even "the streets" discipline, endanger, and threaten to disembody black men and women. The work takes structural and thematic inspiration from James Baldwin's 1963 epistolary book The Fire Next Time. Unlike Baldwin, Coates sees white supremacy as an indestructible force, one that Black Americans will never evade or erase, but will always struggle against. The novelist Toni Morrison wrote that …
Between the World and Me is a 2015 nonfiction book written by American author Ta-Nehisi Coates and published by Spiegel & Grau. It is written as a letter to the author's teenage son about the feelings, symbolism, and realities associated with being Black in the United States. Coates recapitulates American history and explains to his son the "racist violence that has been woven into American culture." Coates draws from an abridged, autobiographical account of his youth in Baltimore, detailing the ways in which institutions like the school, the police, and even "the streets" discipline, endanger, and threaten to disembody black men and women. The work takes structural and thematic inspiration from James Baldwin's 1963 epistolary book The Fire Next Time. Unlike Baldwin, Coates sees white supremacy as an indestructible force, one that Black Americans will never evade or erase, but will always struggle against. The novelist Toni Morrison wrote that Coates filled an intellectual gap in succession to James Baldwin. Editors of The New York Times and The New Yorker described the book as exceptional. The book won the 2015 National Book Award for Nonfiction and was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction.
Crushing
The weight of this book is crushing. It is raw and scathing. It's full of love and tenderness. It's left my head spinning and my heart aching.
Between the World and Me is a collection of essays that Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote to his son. In this collection, Coates reflects on the state of the world and the history in America over the last 150 years. Covering the history and his own personal story of growing up as an African American and attempting to answer some of the questions that his adolescent son might have about the world.
I have always struggled to review a collection of essays and Between the World and Me is no different. What can I say about this book that Ta-Nehisi Coates has not said already, apart from the fact that this is an impressive collection and very informative? Ta-Nehisi Coates is an elegant writer and I found so much beauty in the words, despite the fact that it was a very unsettling subject matter.
One thing that really stood out to me, …
Between the World and Me is a collection of essays that Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote to his son. In this collection, Coates reflects on the state of the world and the history in America over the last 150 years. Covering the history and his own personal story of growing up as an African American and attempting to answer some of the questions that his adolescent son might have about the world.
I have always struggled to review a collection of essays and Between the World and Me is no different. What can I say about this book that Ta-Nehisi Coates has not said already, apart from the fact that this is an impressive collection and very informative? Ta-Nehisi Coates is an elegant writer and I found so much beauty in the words, despite the fact that it was a very unsettling subject matter.
One thing that really stood out to me, is the fact Ta-Nehisi Coates offered no answers, no solutions and no hope. He comes across as feeling hopeless in the situation; like racism is never going to end. While this focuses on racism in America, it still manages to get the reader thinking about the topic in their own country. I buddy-read this book with Hanaa from Craving Books who is a Canadian, so we both were not American but still got a lot from the book.
This is an important book and while there are no answers to be found in Between the World and Me, I think just reading this will be a good start. Understanding is an important part of change, and if we can somehow get everyone understanding just how bad the situation, we might get change. Ta-Nehisi Coates really knows how to write and I find myself wanting to read more of his books; I know he has written a memoir called The Beautiful Struggle. I hope he continues to write, and I would love to see him try fiction, but until then everyone should read Between the World and Me.
This review originally appeared on my blog; www.knowledgelost.org/book-reviews/genre/non-fiction/between-the-world-and-me-by-ta-nehisi-coates/
