Ta-Nehisi Coates’s "Between The World And Me" #1 NY Times Non-Fiction Bestseller

[RobertZ]

Anybody read the book yet?

[arr&bee]

I used to work with his father, years ago.

[splanky]

I have this book on hold at my public library so I definitely will be reading it very soon, I hope. One of my favorite authors, Toni Morisson called it "required reading" so I immediately added it to the books on my summer reading list...

[nysister]

Cornel West has lost his mind!

http://observer.com/2015/07/cornel-w...nehisi-coates/

[Jerry Oz]

Cornel West has lost his mind!

http://observer.com/2015/07/cornel-w...nehisi-coates/

Man, Cornel West and Tavis Smiley have hard-ons against President Obama that can't be rationally explained. Why in the world would he read about a Black man's fears for his son's place in a systemically racist society and basically say 'thank Obama for that'? The fact that he called him the 'Black president in power' shows you his mindset. Has he ever referred to Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, or Carter as the 'White presidents in power'? If I was at Princeton, I'd probably be inclined to have him as a professor but I doubt seriously that he and I wouldn't get into screaming matches in the middle of class over bringing every problem [[even 239 year old problems) to the doorstep of somebody who's been in office for seven years.

[RobertZ]

Man, Cornel West and Tavis Smiley have hard-ons against President Obama that can't be rationally explained. Why in the world would he read about a Black man's fears for his son's place in a systemically racist society and basically say 'thank Obama for that'? The fact that he called him the 'Black president in power' shows you his mindset. Has he ever referred to Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, or Carter as the 'White presidents in power'? If I was at Princeton, I'd probably be inclined to have him as a professor but I doubt seriously that he and I wouldn't get into screaming matches in the middle of class over bringing every problem [[even 239 year old problems) to the doorstep of somebody who's been in office for seven years.

OK - read the Cornel West piece. My thoughts? 1) He's a publish-or-perish academic lifer trying to keep his "brand" afloat; 2) He's bitter that Mr. Coates has a major-impact bestseller; 3) He's a closeted Black Republican; 4) He's just plain living in the past.
Mr. West seems to have some productive ideas but ... wow ...
I wonder if he realizes that his piece has probably sold another carton or two of the Ta-Nehisi Coates book?