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What's Going On

Author Nathan McCall
Ebook
Knopf | Vintage
On sale Jan 16, 2009 | 192 Pages | 9780307561107
Grades 9-12 + AP/IB
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   With the same personal authority and exhilarating directness he brought to his account of his passage from a prison cell to the newsroom of The Washington Post, Nathan McCall delivers a series of front-line reports on the state of the races in today's America. The resulting volume is guaranteed to shake the assumptions of readers of every pigmentation and political allegiance.
   In What's Going On, McCall adds up the hidden costs of the stereotype of black athletic prowess, which tells African American teenagers that they can only succeed on the white man's terms. He introduces a fresh perspective to the debates on gangsta rap and sexual violence. He indicts the bigotry of white churches and the complacency of the black suburban middle class, celebrates the heroism of Muhammad Ali, and defends the truth-telling of Alice Walker. Engaging, provocative, and utterly fearless, here is a commentator to reckon with, addressing our most persistent divisions in a voice of stinging immediacy.
Nathan McCall grew up in Portsmouth, Virginia. He studied journalism at Norfolk State University after serving three years in prison, and went on to report for the Virginian Pilot-Ledger Star and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution before joining The Washington Post in 1989. He is the author of a memoir, Makes Me Wanna Holler; an essay collection, What’s Going On; and a novel, Them. McCall is currently is a senior lecturer in African American Studies at Emory University and lives in Atlanta, Georgia. View titles by Nathan McCall
"Sooner or later, every generation must find its voice.  It may be that ours belongs to Nathan McCall... He is a mesmerizing storyteller." - Henry Louis Gates, Jr., The New Yorker

"Filled with essays that challenge America's myths.... His easy reading style unsuspectingly pricks the conscience."- USA Today

"[These essays] reinforce the moral authority McCall [brings] to the issue of America's racial schisms." - The New York Times Book Review

"Straightforward, quick-moving [and] erudite." -Philadelphia Inquirer

About

   With the same personal authority and exhilarating directness he brought to his account of his passage from a prison cell to the newsroom of The Washington Post, Nathan McCall delivers a series of front-line reports on the state of the races in today's America. The resulting volume is guaranteed to shake the assumptions of readers of every pigmentation and political allegiance.
   In What's Going On, McCall adds up the hidden costs of the stereotype of black athletic prowess, which tells African American teenagers that they can only succeed on the white man's terms. He introduces a fresh perspective to the debates on gangsta rap and sexual violence. He indicts the bigotry of white churches and the complacency of the black suburban middle class, celebrates the heroism of Muhammad Ali, and defends the truth-telling of Alice Walker. Engaging, provocative, and utterly fearless, here is a commentator to reckon with, addressing our most persistent divisions in a voice of stinging immediacy.

Author

Nathan McCall grew up in Portsmouth, Virginia. He studied journalism at Norfolk State University after serving three years in prison, and went on to report for the Virginian Pilot-Ledger Star and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution before joining The Washington Post in 1989. He is the author of a memoir, Makes Me Wanna Holler; an essay collection, What’s Going On; and a novel, Them. McCall is currently is a senior lecturer in African American Studies at Emory University and lives in Atlanta, Georgia. View titles by Nathan McCall

Praise

"Sooner or later, every generation must find its voice.  It may be that ours belongs to Nathan McCall... He is a mesmerizing storyteller." - Henry Louis Gates, Jr., The New Yorker

"Filled with essays that challenge America's myths.... His easy reading style unsuspectingly pricks the conscience."- USA Today

"[These essays] reinforce the moral authority McCall [brings] to the issue of America's racial schisms." - The New York Times Book Review

"Straightforward, quick-moving [and] erudite." -Philadelphia Inquirer

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