"A remarkable collection of essays by a remarkable woman. Lorde’s views on race, gender, homophobia, xenophobia, class discrimination… To me this book is a manifesto of multiplicity. In an age in which we are all reduced to single identities and pushed into artificial tribes, Lorde’s intersectional and touchingly human approach is like a balm. It is a book about love, resilience and sisterhood."

"James Baldwin remains one of the most prolific and prophetic writers to have lived. Every page had been stamped by a genius. This autobiographical collection of essays moved my heart, expanded my mind to the larger, richer perspective of the black experience in Civil Rights America, and firmed up my opinion that, “There is more to being black than meets the eye.”"

"Through a series of essays, Baldwin discusses the significance of actors, Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier and others, all mainstream entertainers and pivotal members of the Civil rights movement. Their on- and off-screen lives became political statements around the racial landscape of America. Baldwin recognizes the double-edged sword of media: A celebration and suppression of the Black community."

"I had been thinking of this book of essays since I saw the Baldwin documentary I Am Not Your Negro last year, and dipped back into it recently—I hadn’t read it since high school. Back then, it hit me hard. I realized there was a counter-narrative to all the history I had been taught, and I learned that lesson through Baldwin’s beautiful anger."

"I first read this in college. I’m really into short story collections and essays, they’re my jam. I talk a lot and I’m very verbose in my writing, but she’s very much the opposite. Sometimes she’ll have a short story that is a page and it’s brilliant, and you’re like, ‘Oh, you can do that, cool.’ A phenomenal book. I usually don’t reread books, but I’ve reread this one."

"Another obvious choice, but I have so much love for DFW. I have always been more drawn to his non-fiction, and this collection of essays is my favorite. The first writing of his that I ever read was the title essay of this collection, and it made me want to be a better journalist. It think DFW is a writer that generally inspires other writers to want to be better."

"Not since The Empathy Exams has a book of essays stuck with me this way. I’ve known Chew-Bose for a decade and she’s always applied the same academic contemplation to her experiences, to her studies of human behavior, and to how it plays out in the films we know and love. She’s now writing profiles for places like Vanity Fair and she turns the genre on its head."