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Between the World and Me Hardcover – July 14, 2015

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 43,389 ratings

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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • NAMED ONE OF TIME’S TEN BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF THE DECADE • PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST • ONE OF OPRAH’S “BOOKS THAT HELP ME THROUGH” • NOW AN HBO ORIGINAL SPECIAL EVENT

Hailed by Toni Morrison as “required reading,” a bold and personal literary exploration of America’s racial history by “the most important essayist in a generation and a writer who changed the national political conversation about race” (Rolling Stone)

NAMED ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES’S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY • NAMED ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY CNN • NAMED ONE OF PASTES BEST MEMOIRS OF THE DECADE

ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR:
The New York Times Book Review, O: The Oprah Magazine, The Washington Post, People, Entertainment Weekly, Vogue, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, New York, Newsday, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly

In 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 out of all proportion. 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?

Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.
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From the Publisher

Toni Morrison says “required reading” & one of Oprah’s “books that helped me through”;Ta-Nehisi
A profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history…;Ta-Nehisi Coates

“Powerful and passionate . . . Profoundly moving.” —Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

“Brilliant . . . A riveting meditation on the state of race in America." —The Washington Post

“Ta-Nehisi Coates is the James Baldwin of our era . . . “—Isabel Wilkerson, author of Caste

Ta-Nehisi Coates;books on racism;racism books;social justice;history;gifts for dad;race in america

Ta-Nehisi Coates is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Between the World and Me, a finalist for the National Book Award. A MacArthur “Genius Grant” fellow, Coates has received the National Magazine Award, the Hillman Prize for Opinion and Analysis Journalism, and the George Polk Award for his Atlantic cover story “The Case for Reparations.” He lives in New York with his wife and son.

Ta-Nehisi Coates;books on racism;racism books;social justice;history;gifts for dad;race in america Ta-Nehisi Coates;books on racism;racism books;social justice;history;gifts for dad;race in america Ta-Nehisi Coates;books on racism;racism books;social justice;history;gifts for dad;race in america Ta-Nehisi Coates;books on racism;racism books;social justice;history;gifts for dad;race in america
THE WATER DANCER WE WERE EIGHT YEARS IN POWER THE BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE THE BEAUTIFU STRUGGLE (Adapted for Young Adults)
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A boldly conjured debut novel about a magical gift, a devastating loss, and an underground war for freedom A vital account of modern America, from one of the definitive voices of this historic moment; this collection includes the landmark essay “The Case for Reparations.” An exceptional father-son story from the about the reality that tests us, the myths that sustain us, and the love that saves us Adapted from the adult memoir, this father-son story explores how boys become men, and quite specifically, how Ta-Nehisi Coates became Ta-Nehisi Coates

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of July 2015: Readers of his work in The Atlantic and elsewhere know Ta-Nehisi Coates for his thoughtful and influential writing on race in America. Written as a series of letters to his teenaged son, his new memoir, Between the World and Me, walks us through the course of his life, from the tough neighborhoods of Baltimore in his youth, to Howard University—which Coates dubs “The Mecca” for its revelatory community of black students and teachers—to the broader Meccas of New York and Paris. Coates describes his observations and the evolution of his thinking on race, from Malcolm X to his conclusion that race itself is a fabrication, elemental to the concept of American (white) exceptionalism. Ferguson, Trayvon Martin, and South Carolina are not bumps on the road of progress and harmony, but the results of a systemized, ubiquitous threat to “black bodies” in the form of slavery, police brutality, and mass incarceration. Coates is direct and, as usual, uncommonly insightful and original. There are no wasted words. This is a powerful and exceptional book.--Jon Foro

From School Library Journal

In a series of essays, written as a letter to his son, Coates confronts the notion of race in America and how it has shaped American history, many times at the cost of black bodies and lives. Thoughtfully exploring personal and historical events, from his time at Howard University to the Civil War, the author poignantly asks and attempts to answer difficult questions that plague modern society. In this short memoir, the Atlantic writer explains that the tragic examples of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and those killed in South Carolina are the results of a systematically constructed and maintained assault to black people—a structure that includes slavery, mass incarceration, and police brutality as part of its foundation. From his passionate and deliberate breakdown of the concept of race itself to the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement, Coates powerfully sums up the terrible history of the subjugation of black people in the United States. A timely work, this title will resonate with all teens—those who have experienced racism as well as those who have followed the recent news coverage on violence against people of color. Pair with Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely's All American Boys (S. & S., 2015) for a lively discussion on racism in America. VERDICT This stunning, National Book Award-winning memoir should be required reading for high school students and adults alike.—Shelley Diaz, School Library Journal

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ One World; 1st edition (July 14, 2015)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 176 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0812993543
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0812993547
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1090L
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.74 x 7.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 43,389 ratings

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Ta-Nehisi Coates
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Ta-Nehisi Coates is an award-winning author and journalist. His books include The Water Dancer and The Message. He is currently a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and the Sterling Brown Endowed Chair in the English department at Howard University.

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Customers find the book easy to read and engaging. They praise the writing quality as brilliant, eloquent, and fantastic. The story is described as profoundly insightful, heartfelt, and personal. Readers appreciate the author's honesty and intellectual honesty. Some find the story uncomfortable and painful to read at times. Overall, customers describe the book as moving and thought-provoking.

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1,476 customers mention "Readability"1,420 positive56 negative

Customers find the book engaging and well-written. They describe it as a stirring, brilliant read with an immediacy and urgency. The book is described as a quick but important read that is worth sitting down and enjoying without distractions.

"...His eulogy for Jones is haunting and beautiful. Accountability? There never is any. “..." Read more

"...Secondly, Coates is incredibly honest; there’s a “calling it like I see it” quality here that is refreshing...." Read more

"...This is at once a beautiful, touching, moving and profoundly insightful book...." Read more

"...know that, in terms of style, he is a gifted writer who is always a pleasure to read, regardless of the subject matter he writes about...." Read more

1,106 customers mention "Writing quality"1,002 positive104 negative

Customers praise the writing quality of the book. They find it brilliantly written, meditative, and full of nuance and complexities. The text seems important and leaves a lasting impression. Readers describe the essay as succinct, tight, and often engrossing. They appreciate the author's gift for writing and find the writing compelling, poetic, and well-spoken.

"...His is a staccato writing style; the “takeaways” of a 1000 page book...." Read more

"...The rhetoric is powerful and the argument informed. The writing is beautiful and the intent quite loving...." Read more

"...Furthermore, the book is very good. Coates writes with uncommon power and clarity...." Read more

"...them, Coates provides a remarkable first step with this compelling, poetic, and sometimes heartbreaking expressionistic book...." Read more

1,062 customers mention "Thought provoking"1,036 positive26 negative

Customers find the book insightful and enlightening. They say it provides powerful first-hand information that explains much of what people raised in white societies experience. The book is described as eye-opening, important, and full of nuance and complexities.

"...Still, overall, a very important work, for America today, and for those still singing those “old union hymns.” 5-stars." Read more

"...The rhetoric is powerful and the argument informed. The writing is beautiful and the intent quite loving...." Read more

"...This is at once a beautiful, touching, moving and profoundly insightful book...." Read more

"...This is undoubtedly one of the most important books of the last 50 years. If I could gift a copy to every single American, I would." Read more

568 customers mention "Heartfelt story"497 positive71 negative

Customers find the story heartfelt and poignant. They appreciate the author's ability to combine deep emotion with an analytical mind. The book is described as a personal narrative that is intensely personal and reflective. The writing style is passionate, poetic, and sometimes heartbreaking. The author's intent is loving and the experience is uplifting.

"...The writing is beautiful and the intent quite loving. It is hard to do better for one's child--but tragic it needs to be written...." Read more

"...First, there are some incredibly tender, moving moments in Coates’ addresses to his son...." Read more

"...first step with this compelling, poetic, and sometimes heartbreaking expressionistic book...." Read more

"...The writing truly took my breath away. It was lyrical. It made me feel. It was a gut punch. It hurt...." Read more

196 customers mention "Authenticity"191 positive5 negative

Customers find the book honest, personal, and truthful. They appreciate the author's intellectual honesty and courage. The book is described as an incredible work of truth and pain, convincing and unbiased.

"...This book is written, earnestly and sincerely, as a letter to his son. There is no artifice in this...." Read more

"...Between the World and Me was beautiful, real, and raw. The writing truly took my breath away. It was lyrical. It made me feel. It was a gut punch...." Read more

"...His story is honest and visceral and convicting and horrifying and encouraging...." Read more

"...One is that race is the child of racism, not the father. So true, so simple, so profound, and so completely opposite of what our culture teaches us..." Read more

105 customers mention "Pain level"81 positive24 negative

Customers find the story painful and heartbreaking. They describe the writing as raw and honest, making it difficult to read and understand.

"...Scathing, as good as Baldwin ever wrote...." Read more

"...His story is honest and visceral and convicting and horrifying and encouraging...." Read more

"...It made me uncomfortable; It made me think; It made me emotional; But never a full connection because I don’t think I’m the intended reader...." Read more

"...The book made me uncomfortable...but it's the right kind of uncomfortable...." Read more

90 customers mention "Pacing"90 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's pacing engaging. They describe it as an important and moving read that draws them into the world with its words. The author brings the human element to the fore, and makes his points vividly.

"...First, there are some incredibly tender, moving moments in Coates’ addresses to his son...." Read more

"...This is at once a beautiful, touching, moving and profoundly insightful book...." Read more

"...He was smart, personable and kind-hearted. His mother, Mable Jones, had followed the “Dream”...." Read more

""Between the World and Me" is one of the most moving and beautifully written books I've ever read...." Read more

79 customers mention "Difficulty to follow"45 positive34 negative

Customers have different views on the book's difficulty to follow. Some find it clear and easy to understand, while others find it difficult to read and understand fully. The premise is simple, but some readers found the first third of the book very challenging to read through and understand.

"...One is that race is the child of racism, not the father. So true, so simple, so profound, and so completely opposite of what our culture teaches us..." Read more

"...This book is hard. It left me shaken at times...." Read more

"...I found her book easy to connect with and approachable. While she constantly referred to Coates in her book and it made me excited to read his book...." Read more

"...Sometimes I felt that although it was short it was hard to keep reading at times, maybe because it felt heavy but it’s nothing compared to the..." Read more

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2016
    Way back at the beginning of time, that is, the 1960’s, Richard Wright and James Baldwin were obligatory reading for me, and I have read much of their work. I still recall a black woman in Atlanta damning me with faint praise: “I think you are a moderate liberal.” Likewise, the lyrics of an old Phil Ochs song, “Love me, I am a liberal” have rolled around in my head: “…and I knew all the old union hymns.” Nowadays, I suppose, Wright and Baldwin ARE “the old union hymns.” America has made so much progress in race relations since the “Amos and Andy Show” was the only authorized black presence on TV, and Jackie Robinson proved that a black man could play in professional sports. Some blacks are now “truffled” in my neighborhood. There is a Black Caucus in Congress, and then there is the matter of the President… Progress.

    But there is also the stagnation, and backlash. Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book concerns the latter. His first name is derived from an old Egyptian word for Nubia, the area to the south of them that was inhabited by blacks. The New York Times review of this book underscored the similarities, and delineated the differences between this work and Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time. Both take the structure of an older black man telling a much younger black man the (racial) “facts of life” in America. In Baldwin’s case, it was to his nephew, in Coates, it is to his son.

    Coates grew up “on the wrong side of the tracks” in Baltimore. At least, that is what it was called in Baldwin’s time. Perhaps it still is. A tough neighborhood. A war zone, literal, and of sorts. A lot of psychic energy is spent just trying to stay alive… of watching for what is out of place on the “trail” to school, and does that bring danger? Coats quantifies this, in terms of brain time, at 33%. Cuts down on your time for writing the next “killer app.” Another quantification: “At the onset of the Civil War, our stolen bodies were worth four billion dollars, more than all of American industry, all of American railroads, workshops, and factories combine, and the prime product rendered by our stolen bodies – cotton – was America’s prime export. The richest men in America lived in the Mississippi River Valley, and they made their riches off our stolen bodies.” He provides no basis for the four billion figure… and for those who would dispute it, is it double or half? I recently read and reviewed Ghosts Along The Mississippi: The Magic of the Old Houses of Louisiana, New Revised Edition, with the subtitle that includes “magic”. There was nothing magically about it. Far more than an abstract four billion, those “ghosts” of old mansions quantify what was stolen.

    His is a staccato writing style; the “takeaways” of a 1000 page book. Concerning schools, quotes worthy of Paul Goodman: “I was a curious boy, but the schools were not concerned with curiosity. They were concerned with compliance…Schools did not reveal truths, they concealed them.” He questions the meek acceptance and embrace of the “tear gas” of passive resistance. He admires Malcom X. Coates names 10-15 black men who have been killed by the police, the police that he says are so instrumental in fulfilling America’s will on race relations. Coates went to the black “Mecca,” Howard University, in Washington, DC, and was dazzled by the variety that is encompassed by that word: “blackness.” He finds love on more than one occasion.

    Prince Jones, a fellow classmate of his at Howard was murdered by the police. He described this killing in detail, and has a heart-breaking visit to his mother, a medical doctor, who had worked her way up from scrubbing white people’s floors in Louisiana. His eulogy for Jones is haunting and beautiful. Accountability? There never is any. “And no one would be brought to account for this destruction, because my death would not be the fault of any human but the fault of some unfortunate but immutable fact of ‘race,’ imposed upon an innocent country by the inscrutable judgment of invisible gods. The earthquake cannot be subpoenaed. They typhoon will not bend under indictment. They sent the killer of Prince Jones back to his work, because he was not a killer at all. He was a force on nature, the helpless agent of our world’s physical laws.” Scathing, as good as Baldwin ever wrote.

    Coates seminal work is an update on the much “progress” that has NOT been made. Normally I would give it my special rating for an exceptional work, 6-stars. However, I did have some problems with it. He goes to France, his first trip abroad, and is enthralled… I’ve been there… figuring the 6eme arrondissement is the “center of the universe.” However, he never mentions an essential word for understanding France, “les banlieues,” literally, the suburbs, with such a different connotation than in America. A fellow reviewer has mentioned that he has become more critical after his first visit. And then I would also be critical of his use of the term “Dreamer,” of which there are many, for sure, but are not a monolithic block that seems to mean “non-black.” And he never develops the implications of the fact that the cop who killed Prince Jones was black also. Like “les banlieues,” “Tom,” of an avuncular nature, does not appear in his work either. Still, overall, a very important work, for America today, and for those still singing those “old union hymns.” 5-stars.
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2015
    When I first heard about Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between The World and Me I criticized it (and the author) to a friend wondering what kind of father writes a book to a teenage son (the rhetorical answer being a bad one) admonishing their child to never believe in the aspirational narrative of the American Dream. "Read the book" I was told. Now that I have, I see my criticism as unfair and offensive. The rhetoric is powerful and the argument informed. The writing is beautiful and the intent quite loving. It is hard to do better for one's child--but tragic it needs to be written.

    Not since William Rhoden's Forty Million Dollar Slaves has their been a book about race quite so provocative and harsh in its condemnation of those who buy into the American Dream. The two authors approach it from different angles, I think perhaps for generational reasons but I really can't know. To Rhoden the Michael Jordan's of the world were sell-outs bartering their dignity and souls for a modern version of slavery. To Coates Dreamers are deceived or deluded: nobody at the bottom (and all blacks are 'bottom') is ever precious to those who call themselves white. At best they are props or exceptions that prove the rule that all blacks are fuel or fodder; grist in the mill that keeps the Dreamer atop our social heap. If their bodies can no longer be legally enslaved, black bodies--usually teenage sons-- are with relentless regularity "broken" by whites or those who serve them. The American Dream for black citizens is a dystopia.

    Coates uses the tradition of the slave narrative (Frederick Douglass' and Solomon Northrup's come immediately to mind) to tell a powerful story of an individual's physical, intellectual and emotional journey as a black man in America. From Western Baltimore to Howard University, NYC, and Paris Coates struggles to give discover an identity, then to debunk it, and then to refashion (quite brilliantly I thought) not as a series of truths but as a series of questions that are inherently mistrustful of Truth (particularly with a capital T). He most emphatically will not let Dreamers or those black believers in the Dream off the hook--and blame the black victims of violence. Trayvon Martin, Prince Jones, Michael Brown, Eric Garner et al., did nothing to deserve their deaths, and their deaths were not unfortunate: they were murdered.

    A handful of quotes:
    --60 percent of all young black men who drop out of high school will go to jail. This should disgrace the country. But does not...
    --'Bodies were broken. People were enslaved. We meant well. We tried our best.' "Good intention" is a hall pass through history, a sleeping pill that ensures the Dream.
    --the Dream is just and noble, and real, and you are crazy for seeing the corruption and smelling the sulphur. For their innocence they nullify youranger....and you find yourself inveighing against yourself.
    --and the Dreamers are quoting Martin Luther King and exulting nonviolence for the weak and the biggest guns for the strong.

    Upon finishing The World And Me I found myself almost reflexively dismissing or beginning the process of refutation that would exonerate me or be mitigating factors. And then I stopped. I decided to just sit with Ta-Nehisi Coates' ideas and opinions for a while. To think about them. A few hours. A few days. I'm not sure how long. To let them percolate awhile and to simmer. I hope many many others will too.
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Kinky Kid
    5.0 out of 5 stars Hermoso. triste y lleno de rabia, una lectura obligatoria
    Reviewed in Mexico on December 30, 2021
    Doloroso y triste, pero al mismo tiempo hermoso, en esta carta hacia su propio hijo, Coates analiza la situación racial de Estados Unidos desde un enfoque muy personal. El libro escrito de manera magistral te hace sentir la rabia sobre las injusticias vividas por los afroamericanos solo por el color de la piel. Recomendadisima.
  • liviar
    5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read if you're interested in current (and historical) Afro-American issurs
    Reviewed in Italy on February 25, 2024
    I admit I have read very little so far, concerning the issues people of color are facing worldwide and in the US specifically. This is not fiction, yet quite gripping. It's a good starting pointo to dicover a whole new world of emotions. I'll recommend this to anyone interested in understanding.
  • Aline de Almeida Gandra
    5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible book
    Reviewed in Brazil on July 20, 2020
    I loved it. It changed my life.
    I also wrote about this book for my Postcolonial Literature course at the University, and it was a great pleasure to analyze it as an academic person.
    Great book!
  • Warda (i.reads)
    5.0 out of 5 stars I'm blown away.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 9, 2018
    Let me start off by saying that Toni Morrison has said, this book is required reading. So get yourself a copy! It's necessary reading for the current climate that we are in that is only portraying a single, skewed narrative and on the same side of that coin damaging and manipulating a narrative that needs to be heard.

    As you may know, this book speaks about race in America, starting from the days of slavery till now, to provide us with this viewpoint that makes the reader understand ‘what it is like to inhabit a black body.’
    It's almost like a personal diary from Coates to his son explaining how it is we have come to the state we are in, and to offer consolation to his son through it.

    This is such a beautifully written book. I love that the author was able to write with such clarity that enabled the reader to really be put in a black person's shoes. To understand their culture and to comprehend that the root cause of it all is fear that is driving these people forward as it is their only means of survival. Terrifying fear where your guard is up 24/8 because you know that as soon as you step out into that world you have a target, set and ready, on your back, which translates to a harshness and power within an individual that is at its essence, fear. And Coates lets the reader (and his son) view this fear through his eyes, his upbringing and experiences and understanding of the world.

    I was just on the constant verge of tears, whether it was out of anger or sadness, because what else are you meant to feel when you know that a specific group of people are completely broken down due to the colour of their skin? Yet, he speaks on understanding the 'white’ mentality. This book is full of empathy, it seeps out of every word, every sentence that is constructed

    He speaks on identity, the social construct of races, the all American Dream that is a facade and build on the back of slavery, police brutality and the concept of whiteness.

    It's not all doom and gloom. There is hope, there has to be and he shares beautiful moments in his life where barriers within himself are broken and clarity poured in, that the world is much more than America and its toxic narrative/lifestyle and the simple wonders of life that we take for granted.

    I know that this is a book that I'll casually flick through every now again. I've filled it with my thoughts, which I'll probably have to add to as my perspective of this world changes and my own understanding grows. It was truly an an eye-opening read. I feel invigorated and my mind is more curious, hungry and eager to find out more.
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  • Strategies to Sales (3S)
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Piece of Art
    Reviewed in Spain on June 4, 2017
    The author writes a letter to his son in order to show how his social environment, education and family background have influenced him, how all this history and memory around have shaped his personality and character, how it is to grown up in America being part of social minority.
    Coates describes the fear, the discrimination, the prejudgment because of belonging to a minority (Afro-American) in the US. He writes also about how unfair the rule “you have to be twice as good” is, because this rule is a justification of the way things are and make people think it is their own fault, they are guilty in some way.
    But these thoughts could be applied to any western society or any social group; the quote people who think they are white” is not only a reference to a book american classic, it is also a reference about how much we guilt ourselves for not getting what we fight for. We may believe many times it is our own fault, we may think maybe if we do it better next time we will get there, maybe the future will be different for us if we improve, maybe our children will get there if they are better than we are… and we justify and accept the status quo of the present situation.
    You may be white, like I am, but maybe you are from a small town, trying to get thought a career in a big city; maybe your parents did not go to university and you feel you are not well accepted in some educated groups, maybe you start a small business, a professional such as lawyer or architect and you are not into some social elite groups, lobbies or economic establishment groups of any level, and you feel you have not the same success some others do because they got there some decades or centuries before… maybe you think you are white, but the truth is you are not. Power and social elites discriminate us all.
    He describes the social dysfunctions that he has learned and his fears about them. Fears about their prevalence over time, about they can influence his son’s condition him and about how telling them or not, may how determine his existence.
    I am a 45 year old, white (well I mean I think I am white), European citizen who lives far away from that environment and society. However I believe this book is not about America’s racial discrimination, it is about the lack of implementation of our western values in any democratic country around the world.
    English is not my mother tongue and I am not familiar with some characters and references, such as leaders, characters and civil rights activists that are mentioned in the book. However I believe most of the message of the book could be applied to any social rights movement, to any social, gender, sexual orientation discrimination in any western country.
    Besides the author's pessimism about change or about the future, the book is full of love, fatherhood guidance, acceptance of difference, respect, hope and tolerance for the values that he is claiming for: we were all created equal.