Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Between the World and Me

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

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Memoir & BiographySociety & Culture

Written to his 15-year-old son, Samori, Ta-Nehisi Coates's letter argues that American racism is first a physical threat to Black bodies. You follow him from a fearful West Baltimore childhood to Howard University, which he calls The Mecca, and he offers no promise of redemption.

Core ideas
  • The Dream: His name for idealized white suburban American life, which in his argument is built on the racial suppression of Black Americans.
  • The body: History and policy come down to physical danger, and the last part visits the mother of Prince Jones, a Howard classmate killed by a police officer.
  • In conversation with Baldwin: The letter engages James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time, and it won the 2015 National Book Award for Nonfiction.
Published2015
Pages152
ISBN9780812993547
ReadFeb 2021

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