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How to Be Black

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About this listen

 The Onion’s Baratunde Thurston shares his 30-plus years of expertise in being black, with helpful essays like “How to Be the Black Friend,” “How to Speak for All Black People,” “How To Celebrate Black History Month,” and more, in this satirical guide to race issues—written for black people and those who love them. Audacious, cunning, and razor-sharp, How to Be Black exposes the mass-media’s insidiously racist, monochromatic portrayal of black culture’s richness and variety. Fans of Stuff White People Like, This Week in Blackness, and Ending Racism in About an Hour will be captivated, uplifted, incensed, and inspired by this hilarious and powerful attack on America’s blacklisting of black culture: Baratunde Thurston’s How to Be Black. Entertainment & Celebrities Historical Celebrity Comedy Social justice Witty Africa
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What did you like most about How to Be Black?

It's easy for a book about being black to turn into a big pity party. The subject of racism is very emotive, a lot of horrible things have happened and still to. This book allows us to examine something of celebrating black culture without emotional baggage.

What was one of the most memorable moments of How to Be Black?

All of it, its great throughout - I loved the Negro spiritual, I love the tale of the "controversy" of his name, the black employee, the black friend, the angry negro - so funny.

What about Baratunde Thurston’s performance did you like?

Baratunde is a great performer, his delivery in the audio version of this book is awesome. He'll have you in stitches. This is better than the print version because he is such an entertaining reader.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I was able to listen to this book in one sitting during the weekend. Once I started, I couldn't stop listening.

This book is the reason I joined audible

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Pros.

This is a clever book that makes you think about what black and non-blacks imagine blackness should be. The satire made important and biting statements about the state of society. Being from a very small and very white town myself, my opinion is that Baratunde Thurston does a good job of writing in a way that should not alienate a non-black audience.

He narrates his own story which helped him put emphasis where needed.

I also liked the snippets from guest contributors.

Cons.

Having heard Mr Thurston on podcasts in the past, and knowing his pedigree at the Onion, I was genuinely expecting something funnier than this. The book certainly seemed like it was trying to be hilarious, but the humour fell flat.

Important satire, but not as funny as expected

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