
In Open Contempt
Confronting White Supremacy in Art and Public Space
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Narrated by:
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Irvin Weathersby Jr.
About this listen
“An awe-striking masterpiece of love.”—Jason Reynolds, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“The sentences alone in In Open Contempt make it one of the most memorable books of the decade. But it’s the unexpected lingering and genius crafting of consequential action that makes this one of the freshest explorations of space I’ve ever read. Irvin Weathersby Jr. has made something we’ve never before seen, felt, or witnessed.”—Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy: An American Memoir
A stirring journey into the soul of a fractured America that confronts the enduring specter of white supremacy in our art, monuments, and public spaces, from a captivating new literary voice.
Amid the ongoing reckoning over America’s history of anti-Black racism, scores of monuments to slaveowners and Confederate soldiers still proudly dot the country’s landscape, while schools and street signs continue to bear the names of segregationists. With poignant, lyrical prose, cultural commentator Irvin Weathersby confronts the inescapable specter of white supremacy in our open spaces and contemplates what it means to bear witness to sites of lasting racial trauma.
Weathersby takes us from the streets of his childhood in New Orleans’s Lower Ninth Ward to the Whitney Plantation; from the graffitied pedestals of Confederate statues lining Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, to the location of a racist terror attack in Charlottesville; from the site of the Wounded Knee massacre in South Dakota to a Kara Walker art installation at a former sugar factory in Brooklyn, New York. Along the way, he challenges the creation myths embedded in America’s landmarks and meets artists, curators, and city planners doing the same. Urgent and unflinchingly intimate, In Open Contempt offers a hopeful reimagining of the spaces we share in order to honor our nation’s true history, encouraging us to make room for love as a way to heal and treat each other more humanely.
©2025 Irvin Weathersby, Jr. (P)2025 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“In language gorgeous enough to be lyric, Irvin Weathersby Jr. helps us examine some of the stone grotesquerie erected and living among us—the remainders of before, the reminders of blood. And in doing so with such care, he’s granted us this work, a new monument to gaze at. One that should be raised and never razed. One that should be seen for what it is, an awe-striking masterpiece of love.”—Jason Reynolds, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“The sentences alone in In Open Contempt make it one of the most memorable books of the decade. But it’s the unexpected lingering and genius crafting of consequential action that makes this one of the freshest explorations of space I’ve ever read. Irvin Weathersby Jr. has made something we’ve never before seen, felt, or witnessed.”—Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy: An American Memoir
“When James Baldwin talked about being a witness, Irvin Weathersby’s In Open Contempt is what he meant. With accounts and observations equally enlightening, enraging, harrowing, and hopeful, Weathersby guides the reader through contemporary and historical spaces both public and private with an unflinching veracity. It is, in fact, when he illustrates how the borders between time and distance are artificial, and the ‘then’ and the ‘now’ are inexorably linked, that the narrative sings most sublimely. In Open Contempt is an intelligent implication and a courageous achievement.”—Robert Jones, Jr., New York Times bestselling author of The Prophets, a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction
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- Two Authors, One Murder, and the Real Hester Prynne
- By: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Narrated by: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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On a cold winter day in 1832, Sarah Maria Cornell was found dead in a quiet farmyard in a small New England town. When her troubled past and a secret correspondence with charismatic Methodist minister Reverend Ephraim Avery was uncovered, more questions emerged. Was Sarah’s death a suicide...or something much darker? Determined to uncover the real story, Victorian writer Catharine Read Arnold Williams threw herself into the investigation as the trial was unfolding and wrote what many claim to be the first American true-crime narrative, Fall River.
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It could have been a great book
- By Michelle hooper on 03-20-25
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The First and Last King of Haiti
- The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe
- By: Marlene L. Daut
- Narrated by: Don Elivert
- Length: 29 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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The First and Last King of Haiti is a riveting story of not only geopolitical clashes on a grand scale but also of friendship and loyalty, treachery and betrayal, heroism and strife in an era of revolutionary upheaval.
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Facts about Christophe’s reign
- By Alex D. Verna on 04-03-25
By: Marlene L. Daut
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Integrated
- How American Schools Failed Black Children
- By: Noliwe Rooks
- Narrated by: Noliwe Rooks
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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On May 17, 1954 the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education determined that racial segregation in schools was unconstitutional. Heralded as a massive victory for civil rights, the decision's goal was to give Black children equitable access to educational opportunities and clear a path to a better future. Yet in the years following the ruling, schools in predominantly Black neighborhoods were shuttered or saw their funding dwindle, Black educators were fired en masse, and Black children faced discrimination and violence from their white peers.
By: Noliwe Rooks
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Black in Blues
- How a Color Tells the Story of My People
- By: Imani Perry
- Narrated by: Imani Perry
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Throughout history, the concept of Blackness has been remarkably intertwined with another color: blue. In daily life, it is evoked in countless ways. Blue skies and blue water offer hope for that which lies beyond the current conditions. But blue is also the color of deep melancholy and heartache, echoing Louis Armstrong’s question, “What did I do to be so Black and blue?” In this book, celebrated author Imani Perry uses the world’s favorite color as a springboard for a riveting emotional, cultural, and spiritual journey.
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Awesome Informative & Inspirational
- By ChiMoDayoga on 03-25-25
By: Imani Perry
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A Dangerously High Threshold for Pain
- By: Imani Perry
- Narrated by: Imani Perry
- Length: 2 hrs and 18 mins
- Original Recording
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Imani Perry’s Audible Original A Dangerously High Threshold for Pain tells the dramatic story of her ongoing struggle with lupus—an autoimmune disease that attacks multiple organ systems—and what we can all learn from those who are grappling with chronic illness. It’s a powerful and poetic story that evokes the works of Susan Sontag, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Audre Lorde.
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Powerful
- By Melissa Medley on 03-11-23
By: Imani Perry
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Before Elvis
- The African American Musicians Who Made the King
- By: Preston Lauterbach
- Narrated by: Jaime Lincoln Smith
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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After Baz Luhrmann’s movie, Elvis, hit theaters, audiences and critics alike couldn't help but question the Black origins of Elvis Presley’s music and style, reigniting a debate that has been circling for decades. In Before Elvis: The African American Musicians Who Made the King, author Preston Lauterbach answers these questions definitively, based on new research and extensive, previously unpublished interviews with the artists who blazed the way and the people who knew them.
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There *was* something before Elvis
- By Dave on 02-23-25
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The Sinners All Bow
- Two Authors, One Murder, and the Real Hester Prynne
- By: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Narrated by: Kate Winkler Dawson
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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On a cold winter day in 1832, Sarah Maria Cornell was found dead in a quiet farmyard in a small New England town. When her troubled past and a secret correspondence with charismatic Methodist minister Reverend Ephraim Avery was uncovered, more questions emerged. Was Sarah’s death a suicide...or something much darker? Determined to uncover the real story, Victorian writer Catharine Read Arnold Williams threw herself into the investigation as the trial was unfolding and wrote what many claim to be the first American true-crime narrative, Fall River.
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It could have been a great book
- By Michelle hooper on 03-20-25
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Righteous Strife
- How Warring Religious Nationalists Forged Lincoln's Union
- By: Richard Carwardine
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 17 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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How did slavery figure in God’s plan? Was it the providential role of government to abolish this sin and build a righteous nation? Or did such a mission amount to “religious tyranny” and “pulpit politics,” in an effort to strip the southern states of their God-given rights? In 1861, in an already fracturing nation, the tensions surrounding this moral quandary cracked the United States in half, and even formed rifts within the North itself, where antislavery religious nationalists butted heads with conservative religious nationalists over their visions for America’s future.
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Sharks Don't Sink
- Adventures of a Rogue Shark Scientist
- By: Jasmin Graham
- Narrated by: Jasmin Graham
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Sharks have been on this planet for over 400 million years, so there is a lot they can teach us about survival and adaptability. For example: how do sharks, which unlike other fish are denser than water, stay afloat? They keep moving. When Jasmin Graham, an award-winning young shark scientist, started to feel that the traditional path to becoming a marine biologist was pulling her under, she remembered this important lesson: keep moving forward.
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An important voice in marine biology
- By TrogLady on 03-20-25
By: Jasmin Graham
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The Crazies
- The Cattleman, the Wind Prospector, and a War Out West
- By: Amy Gamerman
- Narrated by: Anna Sale
- Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Most locals in Big Timber, Montana learn to live with the wind. Rick Jarrett sought his fortune in it. Like his pioneer ancestors who staked their claims in the Treasure State, he believed in his right to make a living off the land—and its newest precious resource, million-dollar wind. Trouble was, Jarrett’s neighbors were some of the wealthiest and most influential men in America, trophy ranchers who’d come West to enjoy magnificent mountain views, not stare at 500-foot wind turbines.
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Brilliantly researched!
- By SHH on 03-26-25
By: Amy Gamerman
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American Burial Ground
- A New History of the Overland Trail (America in the Nineteenth Century)
- By: Sarah Keyes
- Narrated by: Judy A Steffen
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In popular mythology, the Overland Trail is typically a triumphant tale, with plucky easterners crossing the Plains in caravans of covered wagons. But not everyone reached Oregon and California. Some 6,600 migrants perished along the way and were buried where they fell, often on Indigenous land. By the 1850s, cholera epidemics, ordinary diseases, and violence had remade the Trail into an American burial ground. In subsequent decades, U.S. officials and citizens leveraged Trail graves to claim Native ground.
By: Sarah Keyes
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With Hell in Their Hearts
- The Taylor Boys and the Little Girl Who Lived
- By: Charles Huddleston
- Narrated by: Charles Huddleston
- Length: 5 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Like the script of a riveting Hollywood Western and nearly forgotten for over 130 years, the Meeks Family Tragedy of 1894 is one of the most heartbreaking stories in the history of America. From bank fraud, bribery, “blind tiger” saloons and cheating at cards, to poisoning, insurance fraud, Mickey Finns, murder and more, this is a fascinating look at the treacherous Taylor Boys.
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Murder and Retribution
- By Charles K. Hippler on 02-15-25
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The Secret History of the Five Eyes
- The Untold Story of the International Spy Network
- By: Richard Kerbaj
- Narrated by: Richard Kerbaj
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the definitive account of the Western world’s most powerful—but least known—intelligence alliance, which remains central to the defense of the free world in a dangerously uncertain time.
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The author should stick to writing
- By IBH on 03-16-25
By: Richard Kerbaj
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The Waiting Game
- The Untold Story of the Women Who Served the Tudor Queens
- By: Nicola Clark
- Narrated by: Nicola Clark, Karen Cass
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Every Tudor Queen had ladies-in-waiting. They were her confidantes and her chaperones. Only the Queen's ladies had the right to enter her most private chambers, spending hours helping her to get dressed and undressed, caring for her clothes and jewels, listening to her secrets. But they also held a unique power. A quiet word behind the scenes, an appropriately timed gift, a well-negotiated marriage alliance were all forms of political agency wielded expertly by women.
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One of the best!
- By Patt LaPierre on 01-13-25
By: Nicola Clark
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Our Secret Society
- Mollie Moon and the Glamour, Money, and Power Behind the Civil Rights Movement
- By: Tanisha Ford
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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An engrossing social history and memoir of the unsinkable Mollie Moon, the stylish founder of the National Urban League Guild and fundraiser extraordinaire who reigned over the glittering "Beaux Arts Ball,” the social event of New York and Harlem society for fifty years—a glamorous event rivalling today’s Met Gala, drawing America’s wealthy and cultured, both Black and white.
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Not What I Expected, In a Good Wsy
- By Amazon Customer on 01-14-25
By: Tanisha Ford
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Save Our Souls
- The True Story of a Castaway Family, Treachery, and Murder
- By: Matthew Pearl
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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On December 10, 1887, a shark fishing boat disappeared. On board the doomed vessel were the Walkers—the ship’s captain Frederick, his wife Elizabeth, their three teenage sons, and their dog—along with the ship’s crew. The family had spotted a promising fishing location when a terrible storm arose, splitting their vessel in two and leaving those onboard adrift on the perilous sea. When the castaways awoke the next morning, they discovered they had been washed ashore—on an island inhabited by a large but ragged and emaciated man who introduced himself as Hans.
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Awful
- By aleris on 02-11-25
By: Matthew Pearl
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American Heretics
- Religous Adversaries to Liberal Order
- By: Jerome E. Copulsky
- Narrated by: Daniel Thomas May
- Length: 13 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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The conversation about the proper role of religion in American public life often revolves around what kind of polity the Founders of the United States envisioned. In this book, Jerome E. Copulsky complicates this ongoing public argument by examining a collection of thinkers who, on religious grounds, considered the nation's political ideas illegitimate, its institutions flawed, and its church-state arrangement defective.
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A More Perfect Party
- The Night Shirley Chisholm and Diahann Carroll Reshaped Politics
- By: Juanita Tolliver
- Narrated by: Juanita Tolliver
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1972, New York Representative Shirley Chisholm broke the ice in American politics when she became the first Black woman to run for president of the United States. Chisholm left behind a coalition-building model personified by a once-in-an-era Hollywood party hosted by legendary actress and singer Diahann Carroll, and attended by the likes of Huey P. Newton, Barbara Lee, Berry Gordy, David Frost, Flip Wilson, Goldie Hawn and others. In A More Perfect Party, MSNBC political analyst Juanita Tolliver presents a path to people-centered politics through the lens of this soiree.
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Shirley Chisholm and Diahann Carroll
- By SAOT66 on 01-15-25
By: Juanita Tolliver
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Dark Laboratory
- On Columbus, the Caribbean, and the Origins of the Climate Crisis
- By: Tao Leigh Goffe
- Narrated by: Tao Leigh Goffe
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived on the Caribbean Island of Guanahaní to find an Edenic scene that was soon mythologized. But behind the myth of paradise, the Caribbean and its people would come to pay the price of relentless Western exploitation and abuse. In Dark Laboratory, Dr. Tao Leigh Goffe embarks on a historical journey to chart the forces that have shaped these islands: the legacy of slavery, indentured labor, and the forced toil of Chinese and enslaved Black people who mined the islands’ bounty for the benefit of European powers.
By: Tao Leigh Goffe
What listeners say about In Open Contempt
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Eartha Petersen
- 01-16-25
You will gain a new lens on how you view art
Phenomenal book that makes you think about how you view art. It challenges you ask deeper questions and seek more understanding . I’m excited to visit my next museum to see how my perspective shifts.
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- Adera Causey
- 01-10-25
Extraordinary
I was familiar with most of the art he discussed and spaces he visited but I was able to see them with new eyes and discover new layers through his descriptions and discussions. This book is also a beautiful reminder of the power of art, in all of its forms, to remind us, to move us and in these times to keep the memory and true history alive despite any revisionism that might try to diminish it. Thank you for this excellent reminder - I look forward to sharing it with friends and students.
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1 person found this helpful