RaveWashington PostBrilliant, illuminating ... Meticulously researched, sweeping in its historical breadth, damning in its clear-eyed assessment of facts and yet hopeful in its outlook, Under the Skin is a must-read for all who affirm that Black lives matter. It will be especially eye-opening for anyone who believes that wealth, education and access to quality medical services are the great equalizers.
Jesse McCarthy
RaveThe New York Times Book Review... genius. McCarthy’s analyses and observations are masterfully articulated, as are his dissents ... McCarthy’s essays are richly varied, and one surmises the abundant intersections of art and race were in large measure informed by his own experiences growing up Black in America and in France ... [Toni] Morrison’s moral and social criticism and the Black humanist tradition in which she wrote are the underpinning of this collection. It’s distinctly evident in the title essay, wherein McCarthy argues against monetary recompense for slavery ... With a younger readership at the top of his mind but an open invitation to all, McCarthy seems determined to draw attention to African-Americans’ \'true strength\' and \'worth.\'
Alex Tresniowski
RaveThe Washington PostAnyone interested in Wells’s evolution from obscure schoolteacher to civil rights icon and co-founder of the NAACP will find The Rope compelling and inspirational. They may find it plenty upsetting, too, as Tresniowski documents harrowing incidents of mob law, including one that took the life of Wells’s close friend. The book’s driving force, however, the thing that accelerates the page-turning, is the mystery surrounding the sexual assault and murder of a 10-year-old girl in Asbury Park, N.J., in 1910 ... outstanding, meticulously researched.
Kiese Laymon
RaveThe New York Times Book ReviewI must say, Kie, as your true friend...that by adding six rich new essays, deftly curating seven from the original book, and reworking the chronology, you have made a once solid collection superb ... Contextualizing the \'where and why\' of Laymon’s making as an artist provides the narrative thrust of the book, as readers are escorted back in time, ending, chronologically, at the beginning ... Ever-present throughout How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America is the blues ethos of stating and confronting the brutal facts of life and of placing a high premium on style, improvisation and excellence. The ethos here is steeped in that particular Mississippi stank, for which Laymon’s grandmother is a living embodiment ... brilliant.
