Claudia Rankine Knihy

Now in paperback, Claudia Rankine's 'skyscraper in the literature on racism' (Christian Science Monitor) At the theatre, around the dinner table, in the airport and in the voting booth, what fractures lie beneath the veneer of contemporary civility and rhetorical claims to unity? What happens if we actually acknowledge them? And when we do, how can we strive to stay in the room with one other? In a series of real-life conversations with both friends and strangers, Claudia Rankine set out to explore these questions, taking the study of whiteness and white supremacy - and a willingness to be surprised - as her guiding light. Just Us is the record of those encounters. Brilliantly arranging essays, images and poems along with the voices and rebuttals of others, it counterpoints Rankine's own text with facing-page notes and commentary, and along the way considers a typically enlightening and unexpected range of issues, from priority boarding queues to the political and cultural implications of women dyeing their hair blonde. Wry, vulnerable and prescient, this is Rankine's most intimate work, less interested in being right - and in always feeling comfortable - than in being true and being together.

'Don't Let Me Be Lonely' is Rankine's meditation on the self bewildered by race riots, terrorism, medicated depression and television's ubiquitous influence. Written during George W. Bush's presidency in an America still reeling from the 9/11 attacks and charging headlong into war in Iraq, this is an early 21st-century work of great wit, intelligence and depth of feeling, with urgent lessons for the present.

"Claudia Rankine's bold new book recounts mounting racial aggressions in ongoing encounters in twenty-first-century daily life and in the media. In essay, image, and poetry, Citizen is a powerful testament to the individual and collective effects of racism in our contemporary, often named 'post-race' society."-

In Don't Let Me Be Lonely meditiert Rankine über das verwirrte Selbst angesichts von Rassenunruhen, Terrorismus, medikamentöser Depression und dem allgegenwärtigen Einfluss des Fernsehens. Geschrieben während der Präsidentschaft von George W. Bush in einem Amerika, das noch von den Anschlägen vom 11. September erschüttert war und kopfüber in den Krieg im Irak stürmte, ist dies ein Werk des frühen 21. Jahrhunderts, das großen Witz, Intelligenz und emotionale Tiefe aufweist und dringende Lektionen für die Gegenwart bereithält.