{"product_id":"to-free-the-captives-a-plea-for-the-american-soul-9780593467985","title":"To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul","description":"\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eTIME \u003c\/i\u003eAND \u003ci\u003eWASHINGTON POST \u003c\/i\u003eBEST BOOK OF THE YEAR - \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review \u003c\/i\u003eEditors' Choice - A stunning personal manifesto on memory, family, and history that explores how we in America might--together--come to a new view of our shared past\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A vulnerable, honest look at a life lived in a country still struggling with its evils...Hopeful...Beautiful and haunting.\" --Eddie S. Glaude Jr., author of \u003ci\u003eBegin Again\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 2020, heartsick from constant assaults on Black life, Tracy K. Smith found herself soul-searching and digging into the historical archive for help navigating the \"din of human division and strife.\" With lyricism and urgency, Smith draws on several avenues of thinking--personal, documentary, and spiritual--to understand who we are as a nation and what we might hope to mean to one another. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eTo Free the Captives\u003c\/i\u003e touches down in Sunflower, Alabama, the red-dirt town where Smith's father's family comes from, and where her grandfather returned after World War I with a hero's record but difficult prospects as a Black man. Smith considers his life and the life of her father through the lens of history. Hoping to connect with their strength and continuance, she assembles a new terminology of American life. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBearing courageous witness to the terms of Freedom afforded her as a Black woman, a mother, and an educator in the twenty-first century, Smith etches a portrait of where we find ourselves four hundred years into the American experiment. Weaving in an account of her growing spiritual practice, she argues that the soul is not merely a private site of respite or transcendence, but a tool for fulfilling our duties to each other, and a sounding board for our most pressing collective questions: Where are we going as a nation? Where have we been?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Vintage\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/29\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780593467985\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 288\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.68lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.00h x 5.19w x 0.81d","brand":"Tracy K. Smith","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44608393412789,"sku":"9780593467985","price":14.45,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_8868d304-d3a1-4520-a00a-cba7bd9b41d3.jpg?v=1725374613","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/to-free-the-captives-a-plea-for-the-american-soul-9780593467985","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}