Never Scared: Brittney Cooper: Hardcover: 9781250112576: Powell's Books

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Black women are often considered angry and divisive in their interactions with others in both public and private. In mainstream feminism, our demand to have both our race and gender considered is called divisive from "all women's issues." In Black political spaces, our desire to have our womanhood considered is called a distraction from the real issue. However, the manner in which Black women have always insisted on their right to dignity, their right to be heard, and their desire to be considered on matters of national import has much to teach us about what makes American democracy work.

Never Scared takes up this politics of critical dissent, asking: How do Black women resist stereotypical portrayals of them angry, aggressive, scary and violent? How do Black women dissent from a national narrative about heterosexual Black intimacy that says we are undesirable, unlovable, and unfit for partnerships or marriages? How do we dissent from religious patriarchy? How do we use our participation in politics to resist the march of fascism? How does our embrace of Beyonce act as a kind of dissent against those who would dismiss as frivolous Black women's pursuit of pleasure and joy? Drawing together her funny, poignant, and often heartbreaking experiences of friendship, family, and intimate relationships, with insights from her career as a professor of women's and gender studies, Cooper writes compellingly about how Black women's critical dissent shows up in the everyday lives of women.

With the election of Donald Trump and the massive step backwards this signals for both African Americans and women, NEVER SCARED offers a way forward, one that encourages us all not to be cowed or silenced by fear. It looks to the lives of Black women -- one of the nation's most maligned subjects -- for direction. For it is Black women who model critical dissent as a practice of prophetic love not for who America is, but for who she can be.

In the tradition of bell hooks, Roxane Gay and Joan Morgan, America's leading young black feminist celebrates dissent--both personal and public.

Melissa Harris Perry says: "I was waiting for...an author who wouldn't forget, ignore, or erase us black girls as they told their own story and that of the race and the nation. I was waiting and she has come--in Brittney Cooper."

Michael Eric Dyson says: "Cooper may be the boldest young feminist writing today. Her critique is sharp, her love of Black people and Black culture is deep, and she will make you laugh out loud even as she kicks the clay feet out from under your cherished idols."

Black women's anger has often been caricatured into an ugly and destructive force that threatens the civility and social fabric of American democracy. It is a thing to be maligned, disciplined and contained. Beginning at childhood, Black girls are chided for being too loud, rowdy, and boisterous. By the time we reach adulthood, Black women fight off stereotypes that we are all "Angry Black women," perpetually unhappy and difficult to please.

It is true that Black women are mad as hell, but the things Black women get collectively angry about are the things all Americans should be angry about. It is Black women who stand up and protest when the police kill Black citizens with impunity, robbing them of due process. It is Black women who tried to stand up to the rise of Donald Trump withholding their votes for him to the tune of 94%. At the core of Black women's anger is the kind of honesty and clarity that comes from legitimate and righteous outrage.

That is what Eloquent Rage is about: the power of rage to be a clarifying and essential political resource in a shifting political landscape. This anger points us to the ugliest, but perhaps the most powerful and transformative truths about American democracy, and about what it will take to make this place more just for all. In this book, Brittney Cooper, a Black woman who has come to peace with her rage, will give Black women's anger a hearing.

With searing honesty, intimacy and humor too, America's leading young black feminist celebrates the power of rage.

Melissa Harris Perry says: "I was waiting for an author who wouldn't forget, ignore, or erase us black girls as they told their own story...I was waiting and she has come--in Brittney Cooper."

Michael Eric Dyson says: "Cooper may be the boldest young feminist writing today. Her critique is sharp, her love of Black people and Black culture is deep, and she will make you laugh out loud."

Rebecca Traister says: "Brittney Cooper is a national treasure."

Mychal Denzel Smith says: "Brittney Cooper is the Black Feminist Prophet we urgently need."

So what if it's true that Black women are mad as hell? They have the right to be. In the Black feminist tradition of Audre Lorde, Brittney Cooper reminds us that anger is a powerful source of energy that can give us the strength to keep on fighting.

Far too often, Black women's anger has been caricatured into an ugly and destructive force that threatens the civility and social fabric of American democracy. But Cooper shows us that there is more to the story than that. Black women's eloquent rage is what makes Serena Williams such a powerful tennis player. It's what makes Beyonce's girl power anthems resonate so hard. It's what makes Michelle Obama an icon. Eloquent rage keeps us all honest and accountable. It reminds women that they don't have to settle for less. When Cooper learned of her grandmother's eloquent rage about love, sex, and marriage in an epic and hilarious front-porch confrontation, her life was changed. And it took another intervention, this time staged by one of her homegirls, to turn Brittney into the fierce feminist she is today. In Brittney Cooper's world, neither mean girls nor fuckboys ever win. But homegirls emerge as heroes. This book argues that ultimately feminism, friendship, and faith in one's own superpowers are all we really need to turn things right side up again.

NAMED A BEST/MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2018 BY: Glamour - Chicago Reader

With searing honesty, intimacy and humor too, America's leading young black feminist celebrates the power of rage.

Melissa Harris Perry says: "I was waiting for an author who wouldn't forget, ignore, or erase us black girls as they told their own story...I was waiting and she has come--in Brittney Cooper."

Michael Eric Dyson says: "Cooper may be the boldest young feminist writing today. Her critique is sharp, her love of Black people and Black culture is deep, and she will make you laugh out loud."

Rebecca Traister says: "Brittney Cooper is a national treasure."

Mychal Denzel Smith says: "Brittney Cooper is the Black Feminist Prophet we urgently need."

So what if it's true that Black women are mad as hell? They have the right to be. In the Black feminist tradition of Audre Lorde, Brittney Cooper reminds us that anger is a powerful source of energy that can give us the strength to keep on fighting.

Far too often, Black women's anger has been caricatured into an ugly and destructive force that threatens the civility and social fabric of American democracy. But Cooper shows us that there is more to the story than that. Black women's eloquent rage is what makes Serena Williams such a powerful tennis player. It's what makes Beyonce's girl power anthems resonate so hard. It's what makes Michelle Obama an icon.

Eloquent rage keeps us all honest and accountable. It reminds women that they don't have to settle for less. When Cooper learned of her grandmother's eloquent rage about love, sex, and marriage in an epic and hilarious front-porch confrontation, her life was changed. And it took another intervention, this time staged by one of her homegirls, to turn Brittney into the fierce feminist she is today. In Brittney Cooper's world, neither mean girls nor fuckboys ever win. But homegirls emerge as heroes. This book argues that ultimately feminism, friendship, and faith in one's own superpowers are all we really need to turn things right side up again.

NAMED A BEST/MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2018 BY: Glamour - Chicago Reader - Bustle - Autostraddle

Joy Reid, Cosmopolitan "A dissertation on black women's pain and possibility; an autobiography of a black woman's complicated dance with feminism, overcoming otherness as a big black girl in a skinny-white-girl world, her mother's triumph over violence, and her own journey from disappointment to black joy."

Melissa Harris Perry says: "I was waiting for an author who wouldn't forget, ignore, or erase us black girls as they told their own story...I was waiting and she has come--in Brittney Cooper."

Michael Eric Dyson says: "Cooper may be the boldest young feminist writing today. Her critique is sharp, her love of Black people and Black culture is deep, and she will make you laugh out loud."

Rebecca Traister says: "Brittney Cooper is a national treasure."

Mychal Denzel Smith says: "Brittney Cooper is the Black Feminist Prophet we urgently need."

So what if it's true that Black women are mad as hell? They have the right to be. In the Black feminist tradition of Audre Lorde, Brittney Cooper reminds us that anger is a powerful source of energy that can give us the strength to keep on fighting.

Far too often, Black women's anger has been caricatured into an ugly and destructive force that threatens the civility and social fabric of American democracy. But Cooper shows us that there is more to the story than that. Black women's eloquent rage is what makes Serena Williams such a powerful tennis player. It's what makes Beyonc 's girl power anthems resonate so hard. It's what makes Michelle Obama an icon.

Eloquent rage keeps us all honest and accountable. It reminds women that they don't have to settle for less. When Cooper learned of her grandmother's eloquent rage about love, sex, and marriage in an epic and hilarious front-porch confrontation, her life was changed. And it took another intervention, this time staged by one of her homegirls, to turn Brittney into the fierce feminist she is today. In Brittney Cooper's world, neither mean girls nor fuckboys ever win. But homegirls emerge as heroes. This book argues that ultimately feminism, friendship, and faith in one's own superpowers are all we really need to turn things right side up again.

Rebecca Solnit, The New Republic: "Funny, wrenching, pithy, and pointed."

Roxane Gay "I encourage you to check out Eloquent Rage out now."

Joy Reid, Cosmopolitan "A dissertation on black women's pain and possibility."

America Ferrera: "Razor sharp and hilarious. There is so much about her analysis that I relate to and grapple with on a daily basis as a Latina feminist."

Damon Young: "Like watching the world's best Baptist preacher but with sermons about intersectionality and Beyonc instead of Ecclesiastes."

Melissa Harris Perry: "I was waiting for an author who wouldn't forget, ignore, or erase us black girls...I was waiting and she has come in Brittney Cooper."

Michael Eric Dyson: "Cooper may be the boldest young feminist writing today...and she will make you laugh out loud."

So what if it's true that Black women are mad as hell? They have the right to be. In the Black feminist tradition of Audre Lorde, Brittney Cooper reminds us that anger is a powerful source of energy that can give us the strength to keep on fighting.

Far too often, Black women's anger has been caricatured into an ugly and destructive force that threatens the civility and social fabric of American democracy. But Cooper shows us that there is more to the story than that. Black women's eloquent rage is what makes Serena Williams such a powerful tennis player. It's what makes Beyonc 's girl power anthems resonate so hard. It's what makes Michelle Obama an icon.

Eloquent rage keeps us all honest and accountable. It reminds women that they don't have to settle for less. When Cooper learned of her grandmother's eloquent rage about love, sex, and marriage in an epic and hilarious front-porch confrontation, her life was changed. And it took another intervention, this time staged by one of her homegirls, to turn Brittney into the fierce feminist she is today. In Brittney Cooper's world, neither mean girls nor fuckboys ever win. But homegirls emerge as heroes. This book argues that ultimately feminism, friendship, and faith in one's own superpowers are all we really need to turn things right side up again.

A BEST/MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2018 BY: Glamour - Chicago Reader - Bustle - Autostraddle

An Emma Watson "Our Shared Shelf" Selection for November/December 2018

Rebecca Solnit, The New Republic: "Funny, wrenching, pithy, and pointed."

Roxane Gay "I encourage you to check out Eloquent Rage out now."