E-mail: lee AT geistlinger.com
This is an important book.
An epistolary non-fiction book, Coates writes to his son about what it was to grow up as a black person in West Baltimore, MD and beyond.
As a white person of certain privilege (white, male, not poor) it hit hard. It comes in the middle of the BLM (Black Lives Matter) protest movement, and the constant stream of news that is "...if he/she wasn't black..." news.
An examination of slavery in the United States through the prism of caste, as has been in India for centuries and - briefly - in Nazi Germany.
Impressive.
Kind of a twist on the cost of racism - that it hurts us all, not just the targets of racist actions.
Her best, clearest example is one she used in a TV interview I saw (which prompted me to buy her book). During the civil rights battles in the South, towns/counties were ordered to allow everyone – regardless of color – access to public pools. Many areas elected to just fill in the pools rather than support / tolerate desegregation.
Who wins there? No one. Lose/lose