Book Review: Between the World and Me

Between the World and Me

Ta-Nehisi Coates

5/5

I've recently realized a need to educate myself more thoroughly on the nature of race in America. This book was recommended to me by a friend on Instagram as a way to do so and I completely understand why. Told as a letter from himself to his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates narrates his perspective on the oppression which Black Americans feel every day. I think that this is a pretty essential read, especially given the confusion which some people are experiencing as they consider the nature of the current protests. 

I've read a lot of books, but I don't read a lot of non-fiction. When I do read non-fiction and they center upon tragedies, they make me feel more helpless than anything else. If a character dies in a fictional book, I get upset and maybe I cry about it and think about it randomly for years to come. But when an individual needlessly dies in a book and I know that nothing I can do or imagine could bring that individual back to life, I never forget those books. This is the constant fear of Black America, the fear of a random and meaningless death. A society which Coates suggests is built upon violence towards black people which is beyond heartbreaking.

If you don't understand what would cause a group of people to riot and protest during a global pandemic then you really need to read this one. I completely understand the need for everything happening right now and yet this book still taught me so much and gave me so much perspective. It's tragic and it's sad and it needs to be stopped. I hope that through books like this, people will be able to educate themselves and see beyond their personal interests for the more pressing need for change.