Jeff Chang discusses his new book Who We Be

Oct 21 2014 - 6:30pm

Book Launch for Jeff Chang's new book Who We Be:

The Colorization of America

Tuesday, October 21, 6:30 pm (Please note

earlier than usual start time)

Location: Pegasus Books Downtown

This event is free

 

   

Pegasus Books proudly hosts award-winning journalist Jeff Chang for the launch of his new book Who We Be: The Colorization of America. Chang, winner of an American Book Award for his first book, Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, currently serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University. Join us for a reading and discussion of Who We Be on the day of its release.

Event address: 
Pegasus Books Downtown
2349 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704
Books: 
Who We Be: A Cultural History of Race in Post-Civil Rights America By Jeff Chang Cover Image
Email or call for price
ISBN: 9780312571290
Availability: Out of Print
Published: St. Martin's Press - October 21st, 2014

About Who We Be:

Race. A four-letter word. The greatest social divide in American life, a half-century ago and today. During that time, the U.S. has seen the most dramatic demographic and cultural shifts in its history, what can be called the colorization of America. But the same nation that elected its first Black president on a wave of hope—another four-letter word—is still plunged into endless culture wars. How do Americans see race now? How has that changed—and not changed—over the half-century? After eras framed by words like "multicultural" and "post-racial," do we see each other any more clearly? Who We Be remixes comic strips and contemporary art, campus protests and corporate marketing campaigns, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Trayvon Martin into a powerful, unusual, and timely cultural history of the idea of racial progress. In this follow-up to the award-winning classic Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, Jeff Chang brings fresh energy, style, and sweep to the essential American story.

About Jeff Chang:

Jeff Chang has written extensively on culture, politics, the arts, and music. His first book, Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation, garnered many honors, including the American Book Award and the Asian American Literary Award. He edited the book, Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop. He is currently at work on two other book projects: Youth (Picador Big Ideas/Small Books series), and a biography of Bruce Lee (Little, Brown). Jeff has been a USA Ford Fellow in Literature and a winner of the North Star News Prize. He was named by The Utne Reader as one of "50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World". With H. Samy Alim, he was the 2014 winner of the St. Clair Drake Teaching Award at Stanford University. Jeff co-founded CultureStr/ke and ColorLines. He has written for the The Nation, the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Believer, Foreign Policy, and Mother Jones, among many others. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University.

 

Praise for Who We Be:

“With Who We Be Jeff Chang has emerged as a premier chronicler of the broad and unruly narrative of American culture.” —Jelani Cobb, author of The Substance of Hope: Barack Obama and the Paradox of Progress

 

"I know of no better account of the glories and sorrows of contemporary American diversity, nor any so attuned to the outsized role that art has played in that journey.” —Teju Cole, author of Open City

 

“This is the book we've been waiting for.” —Kiese Laymon, author of Long Division and How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America

"A new book by Jeff Chang is always a cause for celebration. His voice is unique, and his issues are our issues: this changing America, this complicated, polyglot future that some are already living in, while some are fighting to tear apart. Who We Be is an important, timely book, and it's also a terrific read." —Daniel Alarcon, author of At Night, We Walk in Circles .