Review Of Coates Between The World And Me

I read the book Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. This book was written as a letter to his teenage son who had started to become disillusioned with his concept of the United States after he learned the police officer who shot Michael Brown would not be imprisoned. Coates wanted to explain to his son through this book that the fear and discomfort that he was beginning to feel was typical for the black community due to the social, historical, and economic context America had forced upon them. He drew primarily from his own experiences in his writing; however he also drew from the stories of others, from history, and from current events. Although Coates discussed many points throughout the book, a few stood out as incredibly important. …show more content…
First and foremost, Coates is most definitely not a Christian, a fact that he makes clear throughout the book. Despite the huge numbers of Christians from everywhere in the world, of every imaginable skin color and language, and the origins of Christianity in Israel, he dismisses Christianity as the faith of the white man who are worshipping a white God. Stemming from this lack of faith in a higher power and a definite lack of hope in humanity, Coates work comes across quite pessimistic. He offers few solutions beyond instructions to feed your mind and continue to struggle. And even in the midst of struggle, he seems to have no belief that there will be any changes for the better. In this he derides hope for the future of racial …show more content…
This was not a book written to white college students. In fact, the immediate goal of the work was not focused on a white audience at all, but to a suffering son. So, while I found this book emotionally difficult, and while I did not agree with him on every aspect, and while I finished the last page with more questions than answers, it was worth it, if only for the experience and opportunity to see another person story and opinion laid out emotionally and truthfully so that his child may learn. So yes, I do recommend this book. It may be difficult to take in emotionally, but the glimpse it provides into another’s point of view and the truths it speaks and the deep thoughts it conjures definitely make it an important, life-shaping