A Thousand Ways to Die
The True Cost of Black Life in America
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Narrated by:
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By:
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Trymaine Lee
About this listen
A deeply personal exploration of the generational impact of guns on the Black experience in America
A few years ago, Trymaine Lee, though fit and only 38, nearly died of a heart attack. When his then five-year-old daughter, Nola, asked her daddy why, he realized that to answer her honestly, he had to confront what almost killed him—the weight of being a Black man in America; of bearing witness, as a journalist, to relentless Black death; and of a family history scarred by enslavement, lynching, the Great Migration, the also insidious racism of the North, and gun violence that stole the lives of two great-uncles, a grandfather, a stepbrother, and two cousins.
In this powerful narrative, Lee weaves three strands: the long and bloody history of African Americans and guns; his work as a chronicler of gun violence, tallying the costs and riches generated by both the legal and illegal gun industries; and his own life story—from almost being caught up in gun violence as a young man, to exploring the legacy of the Middle Passage in Ghana through his ancestors’ footsteps, and navigating the challenges of representing his people accurately in an overwhelmingly white and often hostile media world, and most importantly, to celebrating the enduring strength of his family and community.
In A Thousand Ways to Die, Lee answers Nola and all who seek a more just America. He shares the hard truths and complexities of the Black experience, but he also celebrates the beauty and resilience that is Nola’s legacy.
©2025 Trymaine Lee (P)2025 Macmillan AudioCritic reviews
A Thousand Ways to Die is a trenchant examination of how the personal intersects with the political, of the too-often high tolls of living Black in America. Trymaine’s extraordinary journey is also a vital lesson on the healing power of sharing whole truths with our posterity.–Mitchell S. Jackson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
A Thousand Ways to Die is a historical and literary gift. In juxtaposing his family history and personal trauma with the bloody and painful history of gun violence in America, Trymaine Lee has crafted a brilliant narrative of generational struggle, hope, and resilience. This riveting blend of memoir, reportage, and history reveals how, for Black families, the heartbreak that accompanies premature death can engender healing only if we honor our stories and, in so doing, help to change the world.”—Peniel Joseph, LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Department of History, the University of Texas at Austin
"What more can be said about gun violence in the United States? In "A Thousand Ways to Die," Trymaine Lee unearths an untold story about the ways the weapon has altered the geography, physiology and psychology of African Americans in a work that is deep, revelatory and readable."—Robert Samuels, co-author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning "His Name is George Floyd"
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