The way i would describe this book is that it is as informative as it is hopeful. Johnson outlines how we as a nation have the resources to achieve the aims of racial equity, and how we can use the best of our history to make amends and bring about a future America that is actually racially equitable. I appreciated the leaning on historical perspectives and the emphasis on using history history as a tool to analyze how patterns can repeat themselves, and how to break those cycles. I think this would be very useful for discussion in middle school and high school classes.

Recounting his family history, the author gives us a history lesson in regards to race relations in this country. Although a little triggering at times, you will get a well researched and well rounded account of racism as well as some steps that can be done to counteract some of the issues we tend to face.

I received a copy of the book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review

This was an excellent book. A wonderfully honest look at the history of the United States and the "American Promise" through the lens of a Black man. He makes so many valid criticisms and arguments for how we can all be better and work towards dismantling systemic racism for all disenfranchised people by honoring and celebrating the plurality of the American population and the beautiful cultures that make us the melting pot we are.

I received a free electronic copy of When the Stars Begin to Fall from Netgalley, Theodore Roosevelt Johnson, and Atlantic Monthly Press. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this work of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.

Theodore Roosevelt Johnson brings to this work a retrospective of the American Promise through the history and eyes of a black man, and a tremendous amount of faith in the premise that equality is doable in our society. I am white with various historical strains of Southern native Americans. Any time I felt that Johnson's statements seemed excessive or skewed from a black agenda, I simply substituted another definition of American to make it all fall into shape. Native American. Single parent. Immigrant. Woman, for crying out loud. I only hope he is right in predicting the coming of true equality in our world. It is long overdue. This is a book I am pleased to recommend to friends and family.

A wonderful book on race in America - equally sharp and unsparing in its historical analysis as it is hopeful in prescription for a sense of national solidarity and post-racial identity. Johnson's childhood account is touching, and the dissection of the Colin Kaepernick saga is particularly insightful. Despite book's tragic and sometimes dark thread, the writing has a melodious, slightly addictive cadence.