{"product_id":"what-it-is-clifford-thompson-9781590519059","title":"What It Is: Race, Family, and One Thinking Black Man's Blues","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn African-American writer's concise, heartfelt take on the state of his nation, exploring the war between the values he has always held and the reality with which he is confronted in twenty-first-century America.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the tradition of James Baldwin's \u003ci\u003eThe Fire Next Time \u003c\/i\u003eand Ta-Nehisi Coates's \u003ci\u003eBetween the World and Me\u003c\/i\u003e comes Clifford Thompson's \u003ci\u003eWhat It Is\u003c\/i\u003e. Thompson was raised to believe in treating every person of every color as an individual, and he decided as a young man that America, despite its history of racial oppression, was his home as much as anyone else's. As a middle-aged, happily married father of biracial children, Thompson finds himself questioning his most deeply held convictions when the race-baiting Donald Trump ascends to the presidency--elected by whites, whom Thompson had refused to judge as a group, and who make up the majority in this country Thompson had called his own. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the grip of contradictory emotions, Thompson turns for guidance to the wisdom of writers he admires while knowing that the answers to his questions about America ultimately lie in America itself. Through interviews with a small but varied group of Americans he hears sharply divergent opinions about what is happening in the country while trying to find his own answers--conclusions based not on conventional wisdom or on what he would like to believe, but on what he sees.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Clifford Thompson\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1590519051\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781590519059\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Other Press (NY)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/12\/2019\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 176\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.45lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.60h x 5.10w x 0.90d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/15\/2019\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/07\/2019\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/13\/2019 pg. 1\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBookPage\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/01\/2019","brand":"Clifford Thompson","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44149619491071,"sku":"9781590519059","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_03be4bec-6584-4ec9-854b-28112ae3afef.jpg?v=1688457657","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/what-it-is-clifford-thompson-9781590519059","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}