RaveThe New York Times... audacious in form. But what is perhaps especially striking about the book is that it has achieved something that eludes much modern poetry: urgency ... is both insistently topical and concerned with intimate moments.
Steve Fraser
PositiveThe Washington Post\"His interpretation is intriguing, provocative and revealing. While Fraser could have used a good editor to declutter some wordy passages, and some of his arguments will raise eyebrows, Class Matters is a welcome addition to the growing body of scholarship examining the country’s rising inequality ... Fraser sprinkles personal stories among his essays. He writes about growing up in suburbia, for instance, and his work as a political activist, including a harrowing summer down South as a freedom fighter. The side trip renditions are uneven: Some feel like distractions, some are inserted clumsily, others are instructive. And while Class Matters is shot through with illuminating passages, Fraser could have said more about how class intersects with race and gender and how political power has been maintained by the divide-and-conquer calculus of attaching a black face to many problems that stem from inequality ... Whether you agree with all he says or how he says it, Fraser forces the reader to consider his arguments. His contribution is one of many that we should embrace in this time of reckoning over what this country stands for and where it needs to go.\
Khizr Khan
PositiveThe Boston GlobeNow, in his book An American Family: A Memoir of Hope and Sacrifice, Khan gets the chance to quietly tell his story, away from the klieg lights and easy (if sometimes misguided) symbolism ... If the Khan depicted in his memoir is as guileless as he seems, then he is far from the hero of partisan politics some want him to be. Nor does he offer a prescription for what ails us here across the fruited plains ...his story is moving, and his voice is needed in these fractious times ... Khan writes with economic grace and clarity ... Khan offers a valuable perspective as we continue to debate what kind of country we want to be.
