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Stakes Is High
Stakes Is High: Life After the American Dream | Mychal Denzel Smith
6 posts | 5 read | 8 to read
Brave, clear-eyed, and passionate, Stakes Is High is the book we need to guide us past crisis mode and through an uncertain future. The 2016 election forced us to reckon with who we are and who we want to be. We have been invested in a set of beliefs about our American identity: our exceptionalism, the inevitable rightness of our path, and the promise that hard work and determination will carry us to freedom. But in Stakes Is High, Mychal Denzel Smith confronts the shortcomings of these stories-and with the American Dream itself-and calls on us to live up to the principles we profess but fail to realize. Smith exposes the stark contradictions at the heart of American life, holding all of us, individually and as a nation, to account. We've gotten used to looking away, but the fissures and casual violence-of incarceration, poverty, misogyny, and racism-are ever-present. But there is a future that is not as grim as our past. In this profound work, Smith helps us envision it, with care, honesty, and imagination.
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Megabooks
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Pickpick

Another fantastic book from Mychal. While it was written before the election, it is an important reminder that we need to keep our leaders continually accountable.

Split into four sections: delusion, justice, accountability, and freedom, he examines how various American institutions have failed Black people and how we could go about remedying it. (For example, addressing systemic poverty and housing crises instead of arresting homeless people.)

Leftcoastzen Nice review! 4y
92 likes2 comments
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Leftcoastzen
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We need more essayists like Smith .Selling the “ American Dream”without solving systemic problems that prevent most from even the first steps to achieve it is just insulting at this point.Smith looks at all the hard issues that continue to keep people down , offers constructive suggestions,while many at the top pretend there‘s nothing to be concerned about.Smith conbines honesty, heart, & conviction.I‘m so glad I read it.

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Leftcoastzen
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Wanted to get my hands on this one . Mostly because of great reviews by @sprainedbrain and @BarbaraTheBibliophage

sprainedbrain It‘s so good! 4y
Megabooks I loved his last book. I need to read this. 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage Looking forward to your thoughts on it! 4y
BarbaraTheBibliophage @Megabooks This one is quite different but equally astute and well-written. 4y
49 likes1 stack add4 comments
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sprainedbrain
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Pickpick

Really good essays from a brilliant mind, all dealing with the ‘American Dream,‘ which is nothing but a myth for so many.

Review on my blog: http://sprainedbrain.blog/2020/12/26/review-stakes-is-high-by-mychal-denzel-smit...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

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BarbaraTheBibliophage
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Pickpick

Smith crafted a another group of stunning essays in his new book, which publishes in Sept. 2020. They‘re so spot on and relevant to current events as to be fully prescient. When in fact, they‘re discussing complex conditions that have existed for a ridiculously long time. If #diversevoices and social justice matter to you, please pre-order it.

Full review http://www.TheBibliophage.com
#thebibliophage2020 #thanksnetgalley #readblackauthors #blm

BarbaraTheBibliophage @Megabooks I did too! I hope you‘ll go check out the full review. This one is more outward focused. So good! 4y
75 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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BarbaraTheBibliophage
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Finally getting to this one. And highlighting like crazy even in the first three percent. Packs a punch.

74 likes3 stack adds