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Paul Coates was an enigmatic god to his sons: a Vietnam vet who rolled with the Black Panthers, an old-school disciplinarian and new-age believer in free love, an autodidact who launched a publishing company in his basement dedicated to telling the true history of African civilization. Most of all, he was a wily tactician whose mission was to carry his sons through inner-city adolescence--and through Baltimore in the Age of Crack--and into the safe arms of Howard University, where he worked so his children could attend for free. Among his brood of seven, his main challenges were Ta-Nehisi, spacy and sensitive and almost comically miscalibrated for his environment, and Big Bill, charismatic and all-too-ready for the challenges of the streets. This book follows their divergent paths, and their father's steadfast efforts to keep them whole in a world that seemed bent on their destruction.--From publisher description.… (meer)
Adapted from the adult memoir by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Water Dancer and Between the World and Me, this father-son story explores how boys become men, and quite specifically, how Ta-Nehisi Coates became Ta-Nehisi Coates.
As a child, Ta-Nehisi Coates was seen by his father, Paul, as too sensitive and lacking focus. Paul Coates was a Vietnam vet who'd been part of the Black Panthers and was dedicated to reading and publishing the history of African civilization. When it came to his sons, he was committed to raising proud Black men equipped to deal with a racist society, during a turbulent period in the collapsing city of Baltimore where they lived.
Coates details with candor the challenges of dealing with his tough-love father, the influence of his mother, and the dynamics of his extended family, including his brother "Big Bill," who was on a very different path than Ta-Nehisi. Coates also tells of his family struggles at school and with girls, making this a timely story to which many readers will relate.
This a a beautifully written, poetic, evocative story of a young black man growing up in Baltimore. His father is a huge presence- a scholar, ex-Black Panther, ex- marine, but the dedication is to his mother. Perhaps the most powerful lesson is the incredible struggle it is to grow up a young black male when the whole white world of the US seems against you and the world of your peers is not a sanctuary, but another battlefield. This book dovetailed with the other one I am reading at the same time- The Cooking Gene. Both are about the struggle of African Americans for a legacy and heritage that is proud and laudable, something other than slavery. A moving testament to Coates. I wish I were still teaching so I could have my classes read this book and understand the truth of how the United States has treated both African Americans and Native Americans so deplorably. We will never be civilized until this is taught in school and we face the ugly fact of what inhuman acts have been done, and continue to be done,i n the name of progress and manifest destiny. ( )
I have read Ta-Nehisi Coates and loved his books. I picked this up thinking high school students would enjoy it, but I don't think YA audiences will enjoy it. Its slow pace, slang, and mature vocabulary will not appeal to younger audiences ( )
I finished this book in a week. I could have read it much faster, as Coates' writing is just incredible, but I wanted to give it the time and attention I felt it deserved. ( )
I only understood about 60 - 70% of this memoir, but sometimes it's good to read a book that isn't meant for you. The writing is gorgeous and poetic as always. ( )
Paul Coates was an enigmatic god to his sons: a Vietnam vet who rolled with the Black Panthers, an old-school disciplinarian and new-age believer in free love, an autodidact who launched a publishing company in his basement dedicated to telling the true history of African civilization. Most of all, he was a wily tactician whose mission was to carry his sons through inner-city adolescence--and through Baltimore in the Age of Crack--and into the safe arms of Howard University, where he worked so his children could attend for free. Among his brood of seven, his main challenges were Ta-Nehisi, spacy and sensitive and almost comically miscalibrated for his environment, and Big Bill, charismatic and all-too-ready for the challenges of the streets. This book follows their divergent paths, and their father's steadfast efforts to keep them whole in a world that seemed bent on their destruction.--From publisher description.
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As a child, Ta-Nehisi Coates was seen by his father, Paul, as too sensitive and lacking focus. Paul Coates was a Vietnam vet who'd been part of the Black Panthers and was dedicated to reading and publishing the history of African civilization. When it came to his sons, he was committed to raising proud Black men equipped to deal with a racist society, during a turbulent period in the collapsing city of Baltimore where they lived.
Coates details with candor the challenges of dealing with his tough-love father, the influence of his mother, and the dynamics of his extended family, including his brother "Big Bill," who was on a very different path than Ta-Nehisi. Coates also tells of his family struggles at school and with girls, making this a timely story to which many readers will relate.