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The Message

By: Ta-Nehisi Coates
Narrated by: Ta-Nehisi Coates
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Publisher's summary

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Between the World and Me journeys to three resonant sites of conflict to explore how the stories we tell—and the ones we don’t—shape our realities.

“[Coates] is intellectually fearless . . . unshackled by political or racial ideology, humane in his judgments, respectful of facts, acutely aware of the difference between what is knowable and what is not.”—The New Yorker

Ta-Nehisi Coates originally set out to write a book about writing, in the tradition of Orwell’s classic “Politics and the English Language,” but found himself grappling with deeper questions about how our stories—our reporting and imaginative narratives and mythmaking—expose and distort our realities.

In the first of the book’s three intertwining essays, Coates, on his first trip to Africa, finds himself in two places at once: in Dakar, a modern city in Senegal, and in a mythic kingdom in his mind. Then he takes listeners along with him to Columbia, South Carolina, where he reports on his own book’s banning, but also explores the larger backlash to the nation’s recent reckoning with history and the deeply rooted American mythology so visible in that city—a capital of the Confederacy with statues of segregationists looming over its public squares. Finally, in the book’s longest section, Coates travels to Palestine, where he sees with devastating clarity how easily we are misled by nationalist narratives, and the tragedy that lies in the clash between the stories we tell and the reality of life on the ground.

Written at a dramatic moment in American and global life, this work from one of the country’s most important writers is about the urgent need to untangle ourselves from the destructive myths that shape our world—and our own souls—and embrace the liberating power of even the most difficult truths.

©2024 Ta-Nehisi Coates (P)2024 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Coates presents three blazing essays on race, moral complicity, and a storyteller’s responsibility to the truth. . . . Coates exhorts readers, including students, parents, educators, and journalists, to challenge conventional narratives that can be used to justify ethnic cleansing or camouflage racist policing. Brilliant and timely.”Booklist, starred review

“Award-winning journalist and MacArthur Fellow Coates probes the narratives that shape our perception of the world through his reports on three journeys: to Dakar, Senegal . . . Chapin, South Carolina, . . . and to Israel and Palestine . . . Interweaving autobiography and reportage, Coates examines race, his identity as a Black American, and his role as a public intellectual . . . A revelatory meditation on shattering journeys.”Kirkus Reviews, starred review

What listeners say about The Message

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This is Eye Opening

This is good starting point for deeper insights into the "why"? I believe that the challenge is to be aware of history. There appears to be "mistakes" that are repeated as people move through time.

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Coates is our Baldwin, our DuBois, our Douglass

Incredibly incisive and vital clarification of the horrors we are witnessing. The world made legible. I only wish I could have read it sooner and avoided decades of shameful ignorance.

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sharpness of the authors thought's. thank you.

every thing. the timeliness of the subject matter. the thought provoking connection to the three locations.

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Absolutely brilliant

This should be required reading for every US citizen. What a cathartic release it was listening to a journalist with actual integrity write about their first hand experiences with a vicious apartheid state, instead of the political double speak we’ve been forced to listen to for decades. I applaud his bravery and admire his ability to write about such horrific atrocities in a way that feels both respectful for the victims and insightful/irrefutable for the readers hearing about it from a different perspective for the first time.

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Beautiful, uncomfortable and powerful writing. I read it in one sitting.

A must read. Every single person should read this book, especially now in the current political climate. Brilliant writing!

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Outstanding! ✨

The breakdown and over all story telling/narration is impeccable. The acceptance of falls and the actual truth seeking is astounding and should be praised!

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short and beautiful

Ta-Nehisi Coates is such a beautiful writer and inspiration for writing. I’m recommending this to everyone.

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Haunting

This was a moving book and as a visual artist feel compelled to have a stronger voice

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