This was an amazingly powerful collection of essays highlighting black voices. These essays were all solid, and emotional, and personal. From mini biographies, to celebrations of black artists, to memories of activists and the battle for equal rights, each essay is a powerful read.

My absolute favorite section was Onwards and Upwards with the Arts. Each section is a loving and frank description of a black artist. Almost every essay in this section introduced me to a new artist to explore. In addition, Cobb’s titular essay in Part VII is very good, and I highly recommend the memoir When They Call You a Terrorist, by Asha Bandele and Patrisse Cullors for further reading on that.

This would be an excellent addition to any anti-racist list.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco for this ARC.

I have read many of these articles in the New Yorker over the years but am so happy that they are combined in this important anthology which includes essays/letters from James Baldwin to Henry Louis Gates Jr., to Zadie Smith and many others. Edited by Jelani Cobb who is a prolific writer (books and New Yorker) in his own right, this is a comprehensive examination of black lives as written about in the New Yorker (so starting in 1962 not really before as far as I can tell). The title is a great rephrasing of Black Lives Matter and to me reveals the stories and history we tend not to learn in school. A great and interesting read.

Thank you to Netgalley and ECCO for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A book so inessential that I made the improbably rare decision to give up halfway through. We can do much better than this when it comes to the terror that racial capitalism has unleashed on this land.

This book represents a great collection of essays spanning several decades. Jelani Cobb does an excellent job making the case for the matter of black lives with the use of essays from a range of critical topics. I learned a great deal from reading these essays.

A very timely book on being Black in America. This book encompasses many narratives over the course of the past 100 years. The stories and lives of Black Americans are often and historically told from a white narrative, and I love that this book places the power and autonomy in the hands of those who actually experience life as a Black person in the country.

Thoughtful and cutting book that is needed for these times. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to re-examine and engage this nation as a work of thoughtful inquiry and change.

A beautiful and meaningful collection of essays from some very impressive writers. This would make an excellent gift and also serves as a reference book. If you have teenagers in your home, you ought to have this on your book shelf and periodically have them read an essay from the collection and then discuss it around your dinner table.

This collection goes beyond just being a mere assemblage of essays about African-Americans or racism within
U.S. society. It delves deeply into some of the most searing events in our history as a multi-cultural nation which has often tried but failed to "just get along".

Each piece asks the reader to reflect not just on specific incidents or personalities but weaves in the context of
a particular time; and how that shaped our memory and interpretation of our past.

Some readers may have been exposed to these essays in past issues of the New Yorker; I would say that collecting them all in one volume adds to the power of the argument that the experience of blackness in America -- as well as that of being not black and yet recognizing inequality -- should be explored in depth.

This book should definately be on one's fall reading list.

Absolutely book. Timely and vert captivating. I would highly recommend this. Could be a great book club choice.

Over the past year I have read a number of books about the Black experience and intellectual scene. This is another important one to add to your reading. We have important work to in our Country and this volumE informs, challenges and inspires.

Very thought provoking and timely read. Outstanding collection of essays that will make one think. Take your time to read and digest the writings. You will not be sorry. Thanks for Netgalley, the author and the publisher of this book for the arc of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving this book in this manner had no bearing on this review.