The Brutality of a Country

Between the World and Me: Empathy Is a Privilege

Barack Obama and Ta-Nehisi Coates have made race and empathy central to their writing, but their conclusions point in radically different directions.

• John Paul Rollert
• September 28, 2015

Between the World And Me Book Club: Your Final Critical Thoughts

Readers continue to scrutinize Ta-Nehisi Coates's bestseller. Does the book present a blinkered view of black Americans? Is it actually bigoted toward whites?

• Chris Bodenner
• August 8, 2015

Between the World and Me Book Club: Not Trying to Get Into Heaven

In departing from the religious rhetoric of hope and focusing on the “struggle,” Ta-Nehisi Coates retains the ability to relate to his multiple audiences.

• Tressie McMillan Cottom
• August 3, 2015

Between the World and Me: Saving the Next Generation

Why America’s inner-city youth need not inherit all of the burdens of the past

• Harold A. Pollack
• August 2, 2015

Between the World and Me: A Journey, Not a Vacation

A memoir connects with readers in a way that allows them to discover the emotional trial of raising a black son.

• Stuart Stevens
• July 31, 2015

Between the World and Me Book Club: More of Your Critical Thoughts

Readers continue to debate Ta-Nehisi Coates's bestseller. Will the book’s bleak outlook make people less motivated to fight injustice?

• Chris Bodenner
• July 30, 2015

Between the World and Me: Black American Motherhood

The challenge of raising African American daughters in the Age of Ferguson

• Emily Bernard
• July 28, 2015

Between the World and Me Book Club: The Stories Untold

The story of a black, male, urban childhood illuminates just one strand of the black experience.

• Tressie McMillan Cottom
• July 27, 2015

Between the World and Me Book Club: Your Critical Thoughts

Readers discuss Ta-Nehisi Coates's bestseller. Is it too bleak? Does it convey any hope for race relations? Is that even the point?

• Chris Bodenner
• July 26, 2015

Your Stories of Racism: An Earlier Era

In our fifth installment of a series prompted by Ta-Nehisi Coates’s “Letter to My Son,” readers share their experiences with bigotry before 1980. Are they much different from our recent stories?

• The Editors
• July 23, 2015

Between the World and Me: Baldwin's Heir?

By being himself, Coates is precisely the sort of writer that he needs to be.

• Michael Eric Dyson
• July 23, 2015

Between the World and Me: 10,000 Years From Tomorrow

The permanence of racial injustice makes the struggle for the future necessary today.

• James Forman Jr.
• July 22, 2015

Between the World and Me Book Club: Two Texts Masquerading as One

Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book addresses a pair of very different audiences.

• Tressie McMillan Cottom
• July 20, 2015

Your Stories of Racism: Around the World

In our fourth installment of a series prompted by Ta-Nehisi Coates’s “Letter to My Son,” readers share their experiences with bigotry outside the United States.

• The Editors
• July 20, 2015

Your Stories of Racism: Beyond Black and White

In our third installment of a series prompted by Ta-Nehisi Coates’s "Letter to My Son,” his non-black readers share their experiences with bigotry.

• The Editors
• July 17, 2015

Your Stories of Racism: Part II

Readers continue to share their experiences with racial prejudice, prompted by Ta-Nehisi Coates’s “Letter to My Son.”

• The Editors
• July 15, 2015

Your Stories of Racism

After posting his "Letter to My Son,” Ta-Nehisi Coates asked his readers to share their experiences with racial prejudice. Below is the first batch of many.

• The Editors
• July 13, 2015

Tell Your Stories

The author of Between the World and Me asks readers to submit their own experiences with racism and its physical consequences.

• Ta-Nehisi Coates
• July 4, 2015