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Between the World and Me
- Narrated by: Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Length: 3 hrs and 35 mins
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Between the World and Me
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Summary
Number-one New York Times best seller
National Book Award winner
Named one of Time’s Ten Best Nonfiction Books of the Decade
Pulitzer Prize finalist
National Book Critics Circle Award finalist
Hailed by Toni Morrison as “required reading”, a bold and personal literary exploration of America’s racial history by “the most important essayist in a generation and a writer who changed the national political conversation about race” (Rolling Stone).
Named one of the Most Influential Books of the Decade by CNN
Named one of Paste’s Best Memoirs of the Decade
Named one of the Ten Best Books of the Year by The New York Times Book Review • O: The Oprah Magazine • The Washington Post • People • Entertainment Weekly • Vogue • Los Angeles Times • San Francisco Chronicle • Chicago Tribune • New York • Newsday • Library Journal • Publishers Weekly
In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis.
Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race”, a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men - bodies exploited through slavery and segregation and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?
Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’ attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son - and listeners - the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder.
Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.
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Critic reviews
"Ta-Nehisi Coates's delivery of his own book is so memorable because the material is charged with emotion and a tone of self-disclosure. There's also a highly personal sense of connection between himself and his audience because of his frequent use of 'you.'" (AudioFile)
"The language of Between the World and Me, like Coates's journey, is visceral, eloquent, and beautifully redemptive.... This is required reading." (Toni Morrison)
What listeners say about Between the World and Me
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- S McMullen
- 28-06-17
Perfect
Incredibly moving to hear Ta-Nehisi Coates read out his own letter to his son. One of the few audiobooks that surpasses the read by a mile.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Joe T.
- 10-06-20
Poignant and beautifully written
The intimacy of writing in a form of a letter to his young son is very effective and engaging. The message is insightful, harrowing but hopeful.
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- Swede
- 07-05-16
Gets to the heart of the issue of racism
Brilliantly written & narrated. Personal yet informative. Definitely a must read (or must listen) book.
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- Amazon Customer
- 25-06-18
So moved by this gorgeous book
Listened to it twice in one day. So moved by this gorgeous book. Buy it.
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- Naomi
- 08-03-20
Extraordinary
Well written, well read and one of the most moving thoughtprovoking books I've ever read
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- Bhulesh Singh
- 21-07-17
Jarring but important
This book is jarring and disturbing but necessarily so. It's too easy to walk the earth without really understanding the perspective of others and the privilege one has. This book exposes the contrast.
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- Mr T V Langshaw
- 31-07-20
a must listen
a must listen to all, regardless of where you come from or where you are going
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- alex
- 27-08-15
Yes yes yes yes yes
This is an incredibly thoughtful, moving and provoking reflection on blackness and whiteness in America, and also a beautifully written account of a writer's pursuit of consciousness and understanding, discipline, humility and courage. I'd recommend it to anyone. Coates reads his own work very well too.
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- S.
- 15-12-22
Astonishing
Utterly astonishing. A masterpiece of thought and form. Heartbreaking. Everyone should read and/or listen to it.
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- Christopher McKenzie
- 16-06-23
File under: MUST READ
It’s a gift when someone invites you into experiencing your own world from a different vantage point. Coates does an amazing job capturing, exposing, unlocking & translating what it’s like to inhabit a Black body in the U.S. today.
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