Between the World and Me
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
★ Top 25 book of 2015 · #18 on Best Books of 2015
Written as a letter to the author's teenage son, this book reflects on what it means to be Black in America. It blends a retelling of American history with memories of growing up in Baltimore and the forces that endanger Black lives.
Best for: Readers wanting a personal, reflective look at race and American history
Between the World and Me is #18 on BookWard's Best Books of 2015, out of 56 2015 books that cleared our data bar.
What Between the World and Me is about
Ta-Nehisi Coates writes to his teenage son, and the form shapes everything. The letter looks back at his own childhood in Baltimore, where he learned to stay alert to danger from the streets and from the police, and he sets that memory against a longer American history of violence done to Black people. A central idea is that racism works on the body, on what can be taken from it and how it must be protected. He also describes the comfortable life many white Americans pursue as "the Dream," a fantasy that depends on forgetting that history.
The tone is poetic, reflective and often bleak, and Coates does not offer easy comfort. He parts ways with the tradition in Black Christianity of optimism, uplift, and faith, and, unlike James Baldwin, whose The Fire Next Time inspired the letter format, he views white supremacy as an indestructible force. Readers interested in race, policing, fatherhood or American history will find a personal and unsparing account. It won the 2015 National Book Award for Nonfiction.
Between the World and Me on the Best Books of 2015
Between the World and Me came out in 2015. Of the 56 books first published in 2015 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #18 on our Best Books of 2015 list.
Why it made the list: 432 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (45 ratings). The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 2015 list
- Neverseen Shannon Messenger, #16
- The Mistake Elle Kennedy, #17
- Cantik Itu Luka Eka Kurniawan, #19
- Every Last Word Tamara Ireland Stone, #20
See all Best Books of 2015 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2014 Best Books of 2016.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 349 want to read it, 18 are reading it now and 65 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4.2 out of 5 from 45 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 68 | 55% |
| Reader love | 64 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 63 | 20% |
Questions about Between the World and Me
When was Between the World and Me published?
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates was first published in 2015.
Was Between the World and Me one of the best books of 2015?
Between the World and Me is #18 on BookWard's Best Books of 2015, out of 56 2015 books that cleared our data bar. 432 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (45 ratings).
Why is Between the World and Me on the Best Books of 2015 list?
432 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.2 out of 5 (45 ratings).
More of the best books of 2015
- Six of Crows Leigh Bardugo, #1
- The Hired Girl Laura Amy Schlitz, #2
- Queen of Shadows Sarah J. Maas, #3
- November 9 Colleen Hoover, #4
- The Sword of Summer Rick Riordan, #5
- Red Queen Victoria Aveyard, #6
See the full Best Books of 2015, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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