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Between the World and Me

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Between the World and Me

By: Ta-Nehisi Coates
Narrated by: Ta-Nehisi Coates
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About this listen

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 ReviewO: The Oprah MagazineThe Washington PostPeopleEntertainment WeeklyVogueLos Angeles TimesSan Francisco ChronicleChicago TribuneNew YorkNewsdayLibrary JournalPublishers 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.

©2015 Ta-Nehisi Coates (P)2015 Random House Audio
Biographies & Memoirs Racism & Discrimination United States Nonfiction Social Justice

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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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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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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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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Amazing piece of writing

This book moved me to tears and to new understandings multiple times. Highly recommend it.

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A must

Gripping. Poignant. Poetic.
The bittersweet painful truth and the complexities of being a human in a body.

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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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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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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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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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amazing read. very powerful

a must read for everyone living on the planet earth. is that 20 words yet?

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