Between the World and Me
by Ta-Nehisi Coates
41 jurisdictions · Banned 2015-2025 · Published
Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates's 2015 National Book Award-winning letter to his teenage son on what it means to be Black in America, banned or restricted in 41+ U.S. jurisdictions.
Why it was banned
The book has been targeted in Texas, Pennsylvania, and across the South for what challengers describe as "anti-American" content. Cited reasoning typically pulls Coates's most pointed observations about American history out of context. The book has been removed from college reading lists as well as high school curricula.
Cited reasons
- divisive racial content
- anti-American framing claim
Primary states
Texas, Florida, South Carolina, Pennsylvania
Why it matters
Between the World and Me is the defining work of Black nonfiction of its generation, framed as a letter from a Black father to his Black son. Coates won the National Book Award for it in 2015 and the book reframed how mainstream American readers understood race, body, and history. It draws explicitly on James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time, written sixty years earlier as a letter from Baldwin to his nephew.
Themes
- race in America
- fatherhood
- American history
- letters
Awards
- National Book Award for Nonfiction (2015)
Where to buy
The Ledger recommends Black-owned booksellers. Each stocks this title or can order it.
- MahoganyBooksNational Harbor, Maryland · Founded
Independent bookstore specializing in books written for, by, and about people of the African diaspora.
- Marcus BooksOakland, California · Founded
The oldest independent Black-owned bookstore in the United States, named for political activist Marcus Garvey.
- Semicolon Bookstore and GalleryChicago, Illinois · Founded
Chicago's only Black woman-owned independent bookstore, with a mission to raise literacy rates among Chicago Public School students.
- Loyalty BookstoreWashington, D.C. · Founded
Black, queer, and woman-owned bookstore with locations in Washington, D.C. and Silver Spring, Maryland.
The Ledger may earn commission on affiliate links. All commissions route to Black-owned booksellers.
Related banned books
Books in the catalog that share themes with this one.
Documented by The Ledger. A record of what Black America built and what was taken.
Book cover via Open Library. Editorial use under fair use.