Who Will Pay Reparations on My Soul?

Reviews / Votes

"McCarthy's analyses and observations are masterfully articulated, as are his dissents... With a younger readership at the top of his mind but an open invitation to all, McCarthy seems determined to draw attention to African-Americans' 'true strength' and 'worth.' He well knows that if despair brought on by a troubled world is to be kept in check, the right prescriptions must be offered, the right traditions advanced, the right lessons drawn, and from the right people." -- Jerald Walker - The New York Times Book Review "McCarthy, an assistant professor at Harvard, draws on a broad array of cultural and historical influences - from Kara Walker to Nas to Sappho - in these essays, which he began writing in 2014. He approaches the country's cultural changes in the intervening years through the lens of the arts and intellectual culture, opening with a provocative question: "What do people owe each other when debts accrued can never be repaid?"" -- 16 New Books to Watch For in March - The New York Times "This is a very smart and soulful book. Jesse McCarthy is a terrific essayist." -- Zadie Smith "Remarkable... Their cumulative range and force are as exhilarating as they are compelling... The finest essays in this book function like origami, folding together the apparently disparate into a unique and seemingly inevitable form... In sum, they illuminate, almost like a guide for the novice, the rich contemporary cosmos of black American art, literature, and philosophy." -- Claire Messud - Harper's Magazine