Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

"A eulogy for Prince Travis" would have been a better title than "Between the World and Me," especially since there is nothing between the world and Mr. Coates other than his own insecurities and self-hatred. As I read through the book and listened to his own narration on audible, I felt as if I was reading and listening CNN transcripts of incidents of police force against black men. Between the World and Me is no great literary work, but rather more of the same tropes about white people's dominance and subordination over black people as if black Americans like Barack Obama, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Thurgood Marshall, Deval Patrick and so many other American black men and women have not succeeded against all odds. For me, the best parts of the book were when he met with Prince Jone's mother and when he was living in Paris, perhaps because it reminded me of my own time in Paris. Yet, he went on to relish and admire French culture and people as if French culture was never a part of the white, European, Western world that he claims to deplore. Sorry, Mr. Coates, but you are a Westerner, not an African, and the opportunities and successes that you have had are because of Western ideals. I don't question the abuse of force by the police. I do question your sincerity.