They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib

They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib

* 2018 "12 best books to give this holiday season" --TODAY (Elizabeth Acevedo)
* A "Best Book of 2017" --Rolling Stone (2018), NPR, Buzzfeed, Paste Magazine, Esquire, Chicago Tribune, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, CBC, Stereogum, National Post, Entropy, Heavy, Book Riot, Chicago Review of Books, The Los Angeles Review, Michigan Daily
* American Booksellers Association (ABA) 'December 2017 Indie Next List Great Reads'
* Midwest Indie Bestseller

In an age of confusion, fear, and loss, Hanif Abdurraqib's is a voice that matters. Whether he's attending a Bruce Springsteen concert the day after visiting Michael Brown's grave, or discussing public displays of affection at a Carly Rae Jepsen show, he writes with a poignancy and magnetism that resonates profoundly.

In the wake of the nightclub attacks in Paris, he recalls how he sought refuge as a teenager in music, at shows, and wonders whether the next generation of young Muslims will not be afforded that opportunity now. While discussing the everyday threat to the lives of Black Americans, Abdurraqib recounts the first time he was ordered to the ground by police officers: for attempting to enter his own car.

In essays that have been published by the New York Times, MTV, and Pitchfork, among others--along with original, previously unreleased essays--Abdurraqib uses music and culture as a lens through which to view our world, so that we might better understand ourselves, and in so doing proves himself a bellwether for our times.

Hanif Abdurraqib is an essayist and poet. from Columbus, Ohio, and a cultural commentator. The Crown Ain't Worth Much, his first poetry collection, was a nominee for the Eric Hoffer Book Prize and was nominated for a Hurston-Wright Legacy Award. They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us, a collection of essays, was selected a best book of 2017 by Buzzfeed, Esquire, NPR, Oprah Magazine, and Pitchfork, among other publications. Go Forward in the Rain, a biography of A Tribe Called Quest, is his most recent New York Times bestseller.