From one of the fiercest critics writing today, Morgan Jerkins' highly-anticipated collection of linked essays interweaves her incisive commentary on pop culture, feminism, black history, misogyny, and racism with her own experiences to confront the very real challenges of being a black woman today--perfect for fans of Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist, Rebecca Solnit's Men Explain Things to Me, and Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie's We Should All Be Feminists.
Morgan Jerkins is only in her twenties, but she has already established herself as an insightful, brutally honest writer who isn't afraid of tackling tough, controversial subjects. In This Will Be My Undoing, she takes on perhaps one of the most provocative contemporary topics: What does it mean to "be"--to live as, to exist as--a black woman today? This is a book about black women, but it's necessary reading for all Americans.Doubly disenfranchised by race and gender, often deprived of a place within the mostly white mainstream feminist movement, black women are objectified, silenced, and marginalized with devastating consequences, in ways both obvious and subtle, that are rarely acknowledged in our country's larger discussion about inequality. In This Will Be My Undoing, Jerkins becomes both narrator and subject to expose the social, cultural, and historical story of black female oppression that influences the black community as well as the white, male-dominated world at large. Whether she's writing about Sailor Moon; Rachel Dolezal; the stigma of therapy; her complex relationship with her own physical body; the pain of dating when men say they don't "see color"; being a black visitor in Russia; the specter of "the fast-tailed girl" and the paradox of black female sexuality; or disabled black women in the context of the "Black Girl Magic" movement, Jerkins is compelling and revelatory.
About the Author :
Morgan Jerkins is an associate editor at Catapult whose work has been featured in the New Yorker, Vogue, the New York Times, the Atlantic, Elle, Rolling Stone, Lenny, and BuzzFeed, among many others. She lives in New York.
Review :
A writer to be reckoned with.
-- "Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author"
In the provocative essays collected in her first book, Jerkins meditates on how it feels to be a black woman in the United States today...Reveals complicated, messily human responses to knotty problems. Never intended as the final word on the black female experience in America today, it uncovers the effect of social forces on one perceptive young woman.
-- "Kirkus Reviews"
Jerkins provides awareness into her own complexities-college-educated, black, female, Millennial, feminist-in an attempt to figure out where she fits in and in an effort to uncover the intricacies of her multilayered identity.
-- "Library Journal"
Jerkins' forthright examination of her own experiences leads to a triumphant reclaiming of blackness in all its power.
-- "Booklist"
Jerkins's debut collection of essays forces readers to reckon with the humanity black women have consistently been denied...Personal, inviting, and fearless as she explores the racism and sexism black women face in America...[A] gorgeous and powerful collection.
-- "Publishers Weekly (starred review)"
Morgan Jerkins is only twenty-six, and yet the wisdom packed in her essay collection is transcendent.
-- "Off the Shelf"
This raw, compelling memoir makes for an outstanding audiobook, and the author's narration is well done. The depth of her intelligence is immediately obvious, but what's more riveting is her brutal honesty and her willingness to speak her truth-both beautiful and messy...This book is a must-listen-both funny and heartbreaking-but more importantly, it is an eye-opening call to action.
-- "AudioFile"
