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★★★★★ 5
A penetrating discussion of important books by Black authors.
Format: Kindle
Atcho’s choice of texts is smart: each has survived many decades in print, fascinates modern readers, and probes profound and current themes. Most are well known. Each one is worth your while to read or reread. Fiction, in particular, makes the Black experience in our country accessible to others. Living inside the head of Bigger Thomas (Native Son) offers a more personal understanding than any essay can.
The church has always been part of the story, and Atcho does justice to this by examining African-American literature in a theological light. He is sensitive to what each text is saying on a spiritual level, discerning the subtext and bringing it to light. Over and over, as I read his analyses, I had the experience of seeing more clearly what I had only vaguely intuited. The readings he discusses are not one-dimensional or didactic, and I found having a Virgil at my side was invaluable.
This book is a gift to us all.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2022
