#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A chorus of extraordinary voices
tells the epic story of the four-hundred-year journey of African
Americans from 1619 to the present--edited by Ibram X. Kendi, author of
How to Be an Antiracist, and Keisha N. Blain, author of Set the World
on Fire.
FINALIST FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL - NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS
OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post, Town & Country, Ms. magazine,
BookPage, She Reads, BookRiot, Booklist - "A vital addition to [the]
curriculum on race in America . . . a gateway to the solo works of all
the voices in Kendi and Blain's impressive choir."--The Washington
Post
"From journalist Hannah P. Jones on Jamestown's first slaves to
historian Annette Gordon-Reed's portrait of Sally Hemings to the
seductive cadences of poets Jericho Brown and Patricia Smith, Four
Hundred Souls weaves a tapestry of unspeakable suffering and unexpected
transcendence."--O: The Oprah Magazine
The story begins in 1619--a year before the Mayflower--when the White
Lion disgorges "some 20-and-odd Negroes" onto the shores of Virginia,
inaugurating the African presence in what would become the United
States. It takes us to the present, when African Americans, descendants
of those on the White Lion and a thousand other routes to this
country, continue a journey defined by inhuman oppression, visionary
struggles, stunning achievements, and millions of ordinary lives passing
through extraordinary history.
Four Hundred Souls is a unique one-volume "community" history of
African Americans. The editors, Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain, have
assembled ninety brilliant writers, each of whom takes on a five-year
period of that four-hundred-year span. The writers explore their periods
through a variety of techniques: historical essays, short stories,
personal vignettes, and fiery polemics. They approach history from
various perspectives: through the eyes of towering historical icons or
the untold stories of ordinary people; through places, laws, and
objects. While themes of resistance and struggle, of hope and
reinvention, course through the book, this collection of diverse pieces
from ninety different minds, reflecting ninety different perspectives,
fundamentally deconstructs the idea that Africans in America are a
monolith--instead it unlocks the startling range of experiences and
ideas that have always existed within the community of Blackness.
This is a history that illuminates our past and gives us new ways of
thinking about our future, written by the most vital and essential
voices of our present.
