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  • Between the World and Me
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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
19,398 global ratings
5 star
82%
4 star
11%
3 star
4%
2 star
1%
1 star
2%
Between the World and Me

Between the World and Me

byTa-Nehisi Coates
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Top positive review

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Paul R.
5.0 out of 5 starsMost challenging book I've ever read
Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2016
I'm white, male, and have very little understanding or appreciation for black culture. My parents and siblings all watched Roots when I was about 8 years old. I encountered some black sailors when I was in the U.S. Navy - in fact, I had a roommate for six months or so that was a black male, but we maybe spoke a hundred words during that time. This book came recommended by a quasi-stranger, not for it's content but for its structure: letters from a father to a son. I'd mentioned that I was interested in writing that sort of book, and this was a resulting recommendation. I read a few reviews before buying it. Not the sort of book I'd otherwise pick up. After ordering it, I heard the author on NPR - without knowing it was the author of the book, mind you - and I thought "wow, this guy is really interesting, provocative, well-spoken, intellectually sound, and speaks from a world that I can only see from afar." So when the show host said his name, I knew I had to pick up the book and read it soon. I had that opportunity within days, on a flight to Atlanta, my first visit there in maybe fifteen years. I got through about 110 pages on the flight and it was perfect timing. Atlanta is a sea of black compared to most everywhere I've lived. Instantly, I could try and appreciate my surroundings in way that I'd never been able to before. Did I feel "white guilt"? Sure. I do. I've seen racism my whole life, especially toward black. This book, however, did much more than rekindle strong feelings of being a winner of Powerball proportions in the life lottery. It challenged me so fundamentally and starkly in a way that I have never been challenged, reading a book, in my life. At times I felt compelled to put the book down, that it was just conjuring up too much weight of history that I wanted to put back out of sight. But I kept going. Finishing it, I felt, like apparently many others do, that this should be required reading for every American. Even those outside of the USA will benefit from it, as it will certainly illuminate the tension and schizophrenia and contradictions and rewritten history of our country. I hope Mr. Coates continues writing until he draws his final breath.
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3,363 people found this helpful

Top critical review

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rubic
1.0 out of 5 starsDidn't love it, didn't hate it
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2018
"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.
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From the United States

Paul R.
5.0 out of 5 stars Most challenging book I've ever read
Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2016
Verified Purchase
I'm white, male, and have very little understanding or appreciation for black culture. My parents and siblings all watched Roots when I was about 8 years old. I encountered some black sailors when I was in the U.S. Navy - in fact, I had a roommate for six months or so that was a black male, but we maybe spoke a hundred words during that time. This book came recommended by a quasi-stranger, not for it's content but for its structure: letters from a father to a son. I'd mentioned that I was interested in writing that sort of book, and this was a resulting recommendation. I read a few reviews before buying it. Not the sort of book I'd otherwise pick up. After ordering it, I heard the author on NPR - without knowing it was the author of the book, mind you - and I thought "wow, this guy is really interesting, provocative, well-spoken, intellectually sound, and speaks from a world that I can only see from afar." So when the show host said his name, I knew I had to pick up the book and read it soon. I had that opportunity within days, on a flight to Atlanta, my first visit there in maybe fifteen years. I got through about 110 pages on the flight and it was perfect timing. Atlanta is a sea of black compared to most everywhere I've lived. Instantly, I could try and appreciate my surroundings in way that I'd never been able to before. Did I feel "white guilt"? Sure. I do. I've seen racism my whole life, especially toward black. This book, however, did much more than rekindle strong feelings of being a winner of Powerball proportions in the life lottery. It challenged me so fundamentally and starkly in a way that I have never been challenged, reading a book, in my life. At times I felt compelled to put the book down, that it was just conjuring up too much weight of history that I wanted to put back out of sight. But I kept going. Finishing it, I felt, like apparently many others do, that this should be required reading for every American. Even those outside of the USA will benefit from it, as it will certainly illuminate the tension and schizophrenia and contradictions and rewritten history of our country. I hope Mr. Coates continues writing until he draws his final breath.
3,363 people found this helpful
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rubic
1.0 out of 5 stars Didn't love it, didn't hate it
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2018
"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.
366 people found this helpful
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Dani Lacey
5.0 out of 5 stars I do not think I could easily describe exactly what it is
Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2016
Verified Purchase
I read this book today in one sitting. I do not think I could easily describe exactly what it is, but I'll try. This is a book black people need to read. This is a book white people need to read. This is a book that anyone who calls themselves "American" needs to read. This is a book that writers need to read. This is a book that describes the history of our nation and -- in a way -- the history of the world. This is a book that tells one man's story of how he achieved his social consciousness the impact that had on how he viewed himself.

Coates uses his youth, his journey into manhood, his personal tragedies and his struggle to find his voice as a writer as a vehicle to reflect on what it means to be a black male in America. The book is crafted as a letter to his son, making it a more intimate and personal journey. That intimacy and humanization extends beyond Coates to the victims and survivors of racism. Coates forces to you reflect on the individuality, potential and preciousness of every life impacted by the Middle Passage, Bloody Sunday or killer cops.

He is not optimistic, but he's not a cynic, either. I was worried that this book would leave me feeling sad, angry, hurt. Instead, I feel strangely proud. He sees where we fail as a nation, but points out how black people have and will continue to survive as a people. And he calls on those who have benefited from America's systemic racism to do better or face their own future downfall.

To sum it up, Toni Morrison describes this book best: "This is required reading."
517 people found this helpful
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Richard March
5.0 out of 5 stars When will it end ???
Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2018
Verified Purchase
As a white man I don't think I can say anything of value to this love letter to a black son from a father who understands the racism that is part of the history and soul of America .. but it all reads true to me, I have seen the faces of people ready to be disrespected and ignored and mistreated. This is a powerful work of insight and compassion for a son who will have to walk the same path but maybe in a different way ... I recommend this book to anyone who truely wants to better understand the centuries of hurt and damage we have allowed ot happen just because of the color of someone's skin .. cruelity and blindness to the condition that we allowed to be institutionalized and supported to this very day ..
151 people found this helpful
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R. Martinak
3.0 out of 5 stars Was hoping for better.
Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2020
Verified Purchase
I guess I'm too white. Or a woman. Or something. I dont get what is the point of this book. I looked it up and Mr Coates is worth $100 million. I make $62,000 a year. He lives in an expensive house in and expensive neighborhood in New York. I live in a small.house in a small town. He regularly hobnobs with the celebrity and elite. I do not.

The idea that I have white privilege and he is oppressed is offensive. Yes, there was racism in America in the past, and there are people who are racist today. But not the majority. But so long as people like Mr Coates insist on defining themselves only by race, and seeking to frame every single event in life through a racial lens, society will be ensnared in the whirlpool of past injustice.

I only bought this boom because it was mentioned in the movie The Equalizer and I like Denzel Washington. I was hoping the book would further the same message as the movie - stand for what is right and good in the world. Make a conscious choice.

Sadly the book seems intent on merely digging through the same old narrative. "Its all bad, unfair and most importantly, not my fault." The victim mentality doesn't serve anyone well, regardless of race, creed, gender or any other personal defining characteristics.
43 people found this helpful
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Clifton
5.0 out of 5 stars An Offering of Understanding
Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2015
Like many of the one- and two- star reviewers of this book, I bristled at certain passages in Between the World and Me. I felt attacked and blamed at times, because I, in Ta-Nehisi Coates' words, "believe that I am white." So I understand the scorn directed at this book by many who dismiss it as divisive and simplistic in its assessment of the black experience in America.

But here's the thing: this book isn't about me. It's not trying to tell me what I should do to be a better person or make me feel guilty about things I don't even understand, much less control. It's not trying to fix anything. And if you're reading it that way, I think you're missing a profound experience.

I've never been shown and made to understood the experience of a life so unlike my own as I have with this book. I felt the frustration and fear that Mr. Coates felt growing up black in America. I felt the anger he feels at people who believe that they are white dismissing that experience as so many sour grapes. I felt the hypocrisy of being told not to wear hoodies or play loud music for fear of someone breaking your body.

That's why this book matters. It's not a solution to our race problems or an accurate assessment of the progress of America as a nation. It is not a book about white people and how we should change. It is simply a powerful testament of one man's experience, and an offering of understanding.

I grew up rich, white and privileged in suburban Virginia. I never had to think about my safety, my future or my pride through the lens of my race. I couldn't even begin to conceive of that experience. Ta-Nehisi Coates is the first person to break through that reality of my upbringing and allow me to step into another experience for a little while.

It was life-changing and important.
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Rachel McElhany
5.0 out of 5 stars Required Reading.
Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2017
Verified Purchase
Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote Between the World and Me as a letter to his fifteen year-old son. He is writing to tell his son about his personal experience as a black man in America today. His son is starting to get to a point in his life where he is confused and hurt by the way black people are treated.

Coates starts out by explaining that race is a social construct. He refers to black people as people with a black body and white people as people who need to believe they are white. I thought the way he laid it out was one of the best explanations of why humans are divided into races that I’ve heard. People who believe they are white divided people into different races because they wanted, needed to have power over other groups of people and skin color was the easiest way to make that division.

Coates attended Howard University, which he refers to as the Mecca. He talks about his friend Prince Jones, who even though he was a Howard student and raised in an affluent home, could not escape being the victim of violence because of his black body. He talks about how black people know from an early age that they have to work twice as hard and expect half as much.

This book isn’t meant lay a guilt trip on white people. I think it’s meant to give them insight into the black experience. In fact, people of all races can learn something from this book. I first read this book in print and then went back and listened to the whole thing on audiobook. I gained an even deeper understanding of what Coates is trying to impart on the second pass. Coates narrates the audiobook himself and the way he reads it makes it sound like poetry.

It’s hard for me to put into words the impact this book had on me. And I’m a person who has read many books on race and consider myself fairly educated on the subject. I agree with Toni Morrison, Between the World and Me should be required reading for everyone.
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Benjamin Gorman
5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you, Mr. Coates, for this generous gift to me and my son.
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2017
Verified Purchase
This may be the single most important book I've read in ...decades? It has changed the way I understand my country forever, not just because of the facts embedded in the text, but because of the emotional impact of the format. Coates' letter to his son is so honest that you can't hide from the power of the explanation. I read this book out loud to my son, and it gave me a chance to explain that, while Coates' son HAS to understand this truth because his body is on the line, my white son could choose to not care because of the color of his skin. I explained that I read it to him because I want him to grow up to be someone who cares enough to learn more about the true history and current structure of our society than they will ever tell him in school. I am so grateful to Coates for giving this gift to me and my son. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
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William K. Howle
1.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy
Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2020
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This book is very racist, sorry I purchased
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Scott Richburg
3.0 out of 5 stars Fine writing but a vision lacking nuance
Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2019
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Mr. Coates is a fine, eloquent writer, equipped with a powerful voice. As a white male, one of the Dreamers he lumps together for his vitriol, however, I find in his book no hope for a day when race doesn’t matter, when people can love and respect each other no matter the scars of the past. He refuses to allow for such a world. I am white, and by that virtue alone, worthy of his mistrust and his contempt. If racism is not denying the individual’s potential exceptionality, seeing only a stereotypical mass of characteristics, homogeneous and indistinct, then what is it? I refuse Mr. Coates’s narrow vision of how we can view and treat each other, no matter how impassioned and fiercely he delivers that vision.
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