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6 Books From President Obama’s Summer Reading List

Posted byBy Tracy | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

President Obama kicked off his annual summer vacation with a promise to dedicate 52 hours towards reading. With that promise and two weeks to spare on Martha’s Vineyard, the White House has released his reading list.

coates novel

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Hailed by Toni Morrison as “required reading,” Between the World and Me is a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son. Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of Black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered disproportionately. What is it like to inhabit a Black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?

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