First published 2002
Race shapes every corner of American life in ways both obvious and subtle. Joseph Lelyveld presents authentic voices from across the nation, documenting how racial dynamics play out in daily experience. The book examines a white church joining with a black congregation in the South, follows a suburban white teenager pursuing hip-hop aspirations, and tracks the challenges facing a biracial business partnership in the tech world. These stories emerged from an extensive New York Times series that sent reporters into communities nationwide. The collection includes additional perspectives from the journalists who covered these stories, analysis of polling data on racial attitudes, and responses from readers who engaged with the original articles. The result captures contemporary America through personal narratives that reveal both conflict and hope. Rather than abstract theorizing, the book grounds racial issues in specific human experiences. Each story shows how race influences relationships, ambitions, and everyday choices across different regions and social contexts.
Genres: american, african-american, non-fiction, american-history
Vibes: intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: ground-racial-issues, personal-narratives
Setting: America, South, Tech World
Period: Contemporary
416 pages · Paperback · Times Books