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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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Publisher's 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.
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
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 30-08-2022
Stunning perspective and prose
I loved this “pamphlet/ letter” with a deep respect and compassion that I know was drawn directly by the author with the same hand that wrote the words - a true experience
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Rodney Wetherell
- 13-05-2020
The pain of oppression, expressed superbly
I found this book hard to listen to, in places, because Coates' pain is so raw, his anger so deep - and yet he has put his message forward with a degree of cool detachment. He knows loud protests etc. have only a temporary effect, and wants to reach people on many levels - the political, social, personal et al. His reading is very engaging too.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Andrew Hardie
- 05-06-2019
Ensightful read as a white woman
A deep and personal account of life without illusions. Engaging - written for his son but given to the world. What a gift. Thank you.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Ben Webb
- 31-08-2020
Spectacular
Prose, poetry, autobiography and narrative it has it all. Everything we own is won through the destruction of the body.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Almah Tararia
- 01-03-2020
A master piece by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
My intro to this and Ioved it. Between the World and Me is a must read.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Maria S.
- 19-06-2020
Amazing piece of writing
This book moved me to tears and to new understandings multiple times. Highly recommend it.
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- Currybreath
- 21-11-2019
A must
Gripping. Poignant. Poetic.
The bittersweet painful truth and the complexities of being a human in a body.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Stacey
- 08-08-2015
stunning
Moving, hard, beautiful. It is consuming. I often listen to books while doing other things but found myself standing still with this one, listening carefully, feeling any number of emotions. Highly recommend.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Keiran Shanahan
- 10-10-2016
I'll listen again, and probably need too.
I really enjoyed bearing it in the author's voice. A real thought provoking listen. Recommended .
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- ilianna
- 27-07-2015
amazing read. very powerful
a must read for everyone living on the planet earth. is that 20 words yet?
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