Monday, August 14, 2023

September's Middletown Book for Discussion: Between the World and Me (Sept. 22)

Photograph of Ta-Nehisi Coates and a quote from him "Racism tends to attract attention when it's flagrant and filled with invective. But like all bigotry, the most potent component of racism is fram-flipping -- positioning the bigot as the actual victim. So the gay do not simply want to marry; they want to convert our children into sin. THe News do not merely want to be left in peace; they actually are plotting world take-ver. And the blacks are not actually victims of American power, but beneficiaries of the war against hard-working whites. This is a respectable, more sensible bigotry, one that does not seek to name-call, preferring instead to change the subject and straw man."

The MUM Book Discussion group will next meet on Friday, September 22.  Our title is Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me.  Here is a brief summary:


"For Ta-Nehisi Coates, history has always been personal. At every stage of his life, he's sought in his explorations of history answers to the mysteries that surrounded him--most urgently, why he, and other black people he knew, seemed to live in fear ... In [this book], Coates takes readers along on his journey through America's history of race and its contemporary resonances through a series of awakenings--moments when he discovered some new truth about our long, tangled history of race, whether through his myth-busting professors at Howard University, a trip to a Civil War battlefield with a rogue historian, a journey to Chicago's South Side to visit aging survivors of 20th century America's 'long war on black people,' or a visit with the mother of a beloved friend who was shot down by the police."  (publisher)

Here is where you can find the book:
  • There are several copies (of either the 2019 or 2022 printings) available in MiamiOhioLINK, and SearchOhio libraries.  
  • Amazon has the hardcover, paperback, and Kindle available, and Bookshop.org has links to purchase the title from independent booksellers.
Our group is always finding interesting titles to share, and we look forward to the new things you'll bring to the table.  In addition to discussing Gender Queer, the group also shared these titles for consideration at their August 4 meeting:
  • All Boys Aren't Blue, George M. Johnson
  • We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir, Samra Habib
  • Mad Honey, Jodi Picoult
We will meet at 12 pm on the 22nd both in Room 123 in the Library and in Zoom at 

Passcode: 203006
Add this event to your Google Calendar!  (which includes the Zoom information) 

Please come along to our discussion to share what you've been reading/watching/listening to/experiencing!

If you're looking for something interesting to read, check out our page of past and future reads at http://www.mid.miamioh.edu/library/bookdiscussion.htm



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