Never before has a black man’s view of America been more openly spilled out into 152 pages of pure teaching and passion. Ta-Nehisi Coates shows his reader what it means to be a father, a student, a kid in this dark and homely world for a black man. As Coates speaks to us through a letter to his son we see the ins and outs of this one man’s portrayal of America and how he describes the American Dream.

In Between the World and Me is a letter that Coates has written to his teen son after three unarmed young black kids are killed by police. Coates takes us through his life’s path and the struggles that have come with being it all while teaching his son Amori how to navigate life in America as a black man. As Coates comes from the streets of Baltimore to his time at Howard university and through fatherhood he shows us what he learns along the way not only through education but real life interactions in the thick of American society as well. Coates describes to his son in nearly every chapter of his letter something he calls “The Dream”, however this is not like Dr. King’s dream, instead it depicts the false idealisation of white Americans on the culture of America and the successes of white Americans and how this belief affects African Americans and Coates and Samori specifically.

Coates style of writing is greatly affected and changed by this work being a letter. Because of this there is almost no dialogue as everything he depicts is a lesson and generally using broad storytelling and descriptions in the past. Being non fiction there are very few metaphors, virtually none, and minimal symbolism throughout as Coates remains very straightforward with his lessons. Coates has no humor as the topic of his letter is very serious and can be assumed that he doesn’t joke often about the lives of African Americans outside of his writing. Coates often uses complex language to further his message as well as lengthy sentences when he becomes more passionate and emotional about his teachings.

I personally enjoyed Between the World and Me, I thought Coates showed a variety of perspectives and points of view on the topic of racism and police brutality in America, adding needed details to already talked about topics. Although, I did believe that his timeline was somewhat difficult to follow at times and I thought there were very few dynamic characters adding to the argument that this story had no plot and taking away from the storytelling aspect of this letter. I enjoyed the way that Coates described and got his messages across because he allowed for all readers to understand what he was trying telling his son, whether you were black or white or a highschool reader or a philosopher. Anybody with a passion for learning will enjoy this book as Coates teaches a variety of lessons related to different topics as well as anyone that is interested in the black rights movement or wants to see an interesting perspective on police brutality in America.