Staff Pick
An open wound of a book, Citizen is 21st-century required reading. The subtle, almost invisible onslaught "citizens" face every day is split open for inspection. Rankine will hold your hand through it, but she will also hold it to the fire. No matter. It's necessary. Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Claudia Rankine's bold new book recounts mounting racial aggressions in ongoing encounters in twenty-first-century daily life and in the media. Some of these encounters are slights, seeming slips of the tongue, and some are intentional offensives in the classroom, at the supermarket, at home, on the tennis court with Serena Williams and the soccer field with Zinedine Zidane, online, on TV—everywhere, all the time. The accumulative stresses come to bear on a person's ability to speak, perform, and stay alive. Our addressability is tied to the state of our belonging, Rankine argues, as are our assumptions and expectations of citizenship.
Review
"Combining poetry, essay, and images from media and contemporary art, Rankine's poetics capture the urgency of her subject matter." ---Publishers Weekly Starred Review
Synopsis
In essay, image, and poetry, Citizen is a powerful testament to the individual and collective effects of racism in our contemporary, often named "post-race" society.
About the Author
Claudia Rankine is the author of four previous books, including Don't Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric. She currently is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and teaches at Pomona College.Allyson Johnson began her entertainment career in her hometown of Chicago as an Emmy Award�winning child news anchor. A graduate of Brown University, she is a working actress, singer, and audiobook narrator in the New York City metropolitan area.