Here is the superb second edition of the annual anthology devoted to the
best nonfiction writing by African American authors--provocative works
from an unprecedented and unforgettable year when truth was stranger
(and more inspiring) than fiction.
The galvanizing election of Barack Obama was on the minds--and the
pages--of authors everywhere. Best African American Essays 2010
features the insights of writers from Juan Williams to Kelefa Sanneh and
even Obama himself (his seminal speech on race is included here in its
entirety). Ta-Nehisi Coates, in The Nation, proclaims that the president
has redefined blackness for white America, while Adolph Reed, Jr., in
The Progressive, calls him a vacuous opportunist and Colson Whitehead,
in The New York Times, lightheartedly revels in the election of someone
who looked like me . . . slim. The First Lady is considered, too, as
Lauren Collins, in The New Yorker, assesses the radical quality of
Michelle Obama's very normalcy.
But Best African American Essays 2010 goes beyond the Obamas with
brilliant pieces from such writers as Hua Hsu, who declares the end of
white America in a new cultural mainstream which prizes diversity above
all else; Henry Louis Gates, who researches his family tree, adding to
the young discipline that is African American history; and Jelani Cobb,
who dares to defend George W. Bush. There are thoughtful and heartfelt
tributes to living legends, including Bill Cosby (and an analysis of his
famous pound cake speech, which promoted black responsibility,
empowerment, and self-esteem), and remembrances of those who have
passed, including Miriam Makeba, Isaac Hayes, Eartha Kitt, and Michael
Jackson.
Selected by guest editor Randall Kennedy, a leading intellectual and
legal scholar, the wide-ranging pieces in Best African American Essays
2010 comprise a thrilling collection that anyone who wishes to
understand the meaning of the new America must own.
