"McCarthys analyses and observations are masterfully articulated, as are his dissents With a younger readership at the top of his mind but an open invitation to all, McCarthy seems determined to draw attention to African-Americans true strength and worth. He well knows that if despair brought on by a troubled world is to be kept in check, the right prescriptions must be offered, the right traditions advanced, the right lessons drawn, and from the right people." -- Jerald Walker - The New York Times Book Review "McCarthy, an assistant professor at Harvard, draws on a broad array of cultural and historical influences from Kara Walker to Nas to Sappho in these essays, which he began writing in 2014. He approaches the countrys cultural changes in the intervening years through the lens of the arts and intellectual culture, opening with a provocative question: What do people owe each other when debts accrued can never be repaid?" -- 16 New Books to Watch For in March - The New York Times "This is a very smart and soulful book. Jesse McCarthy is a terrific essayist." -- Zadie Smith "Remarkable... Their cumulative range and force are as exhilarating as they are compelling... The finest essays in this book function like origami, folding together the apparently disparate into a unique and seemingly inevitable form... In sum, they illuminate, almost like a guide for the novice, the rich contemporary cosmos of black American art, literature, and philosophy." -- Claire Messud - Harpers Magazine
