Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Like many of the one- and two- star reviewers of this book, I bristled at certain passages in Between the World and Me. I felt attacked and blamed at times, because I, in Ta-Nehisi Coates' words, "believe that I am white." So I understand the scorn directed at this book by many who dismiss it as divisive and simplistic in its assessment of the black experience in America. But here's the thing: this book isn't about me. It's not trying to tell me what I should do to be a better person or make me feel guilty about things I don't even understand, much less control. It's not trying to fix anything. And if you're reading it that way, I think you're missing a profound experience. I've never been shown and made to understood the experience of a life so unlike my own as I have with this book. I felt the frustration and fear that Mr. Coates felt growing up black in America. I felt the anger he feels at people who believe that they are white dismissing that experience as so many sour grapes. I felt the hypocrisy of being told not to wear hoodies or play loud music for fear of someone breaking your body. That's why this book matters. It's not a solution to our race problems or an accurate assessment of the progress of America as a nation. It is not a book about white people and how we should change. It is simply a powerful testament of one man's experience, and an offering of understanding. I grew up rich, white and privileged in suburban Virginia. I never had to think about my safety, my future or my pride through the lens of my race. I couldn't even begin to conceive of that experience. Ta-Nehisi Coates is the first person to break through that reality of my upbringing and allow me to step into another experience for a little while. It was life-changing and important.