![]() First edition cover | |
Editors |
Ibram X. Kendi Keisha N. Blain |
---|---|
Cover artist | Bayo Iribhogbe (art) Michael Morris (design) |
Language | English |
Subject | African-American history |
Publisher | One World |
Publication date | February 2, 2021 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback), e-book, audiobook |
Pages | 528 |
Award | Earphones Award for Best Audiobook ( AudioFile) |
ISBN | 978-0-593-13404-7 (First edition hardcover) |
OCLC | 1184240347 |
973/.0496073 | |
LC Class | E185 .F625 2021 |
Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619โ2019 is a 2021 anthology of essays, commentaries, personal reflections, short stories, and poetry, compiled and edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain. Conceived and created to commemorate the four hundred years that had passed since the arrival of the first Africans in Virginia, the book concerns African-American history and collects works written by ninety Black writers. A winner or finalist of multiple awards in its print and audiobook editions, Four Hundred Souls has been widely praised by reviewers for its prose and historical content.
From 1841 to 2019, the vast majority of books telling a history of African America were written by individuals, also almost always male. [1] As the 400th anniversary of Black Africans' arrival in British North America approached, Ibram X. Kendi contemplated how to commemorate the "symbolic birthday of Black America" and the whole 400-year period. Kendi resolved to invert the trend by "bringing together a community of writers" and encouraging them to both write history and make history, creating an artifact capturing what Black Americans were thinking during that anniversary year. [2]
Kendi and Keisha N. Blain collaborated to compile and edit the book project, titled Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619โ2019, and together they invited ten poets and eighty writers from a diverse range of professionsโincluding historians, anthropologists, journalists, novelists, economists, theologians, educators, and moreโto contribute. [3] Reviewer Don Polite called the resulting contributor list a "who's who of African America" and "a remarkable cross section of the Black community". [4] Many contributors are "huge names", but Four Hundred Souls also features numerous "up-and-coming writers". [5] Most of the authors wrote their chapters in 2019. [2]
Blain remembered the process being a "moving experience". The COVID-19 pandemic began while Kendi and Blain were in the process of assembling the book; feeling that she was at work on something historically significant comforted Blain during a time of intense loss and loneliness. [6] The book is dedicated "to Black lives lost to COVID-19". [2]
While contrasting with past single-author histories of Black America, [1] Four Hundred Souls also emerges in a tradition of Black-written anthologies "of historical observations, poetry, scholarship, and vignettes" in the vein of Abraham Chapman's Black Voices: An Anthology of Afro-American Literature and Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. [7]
During a later stage of producing the book, Kendi and Blain decided that for the audiobook version, they wanted to "actualize what [Kendi] wrote about" in his introductory description of the book's "community of writers [being] like a choir". To evoke this effect, they chose to pursue a full-cast audiobook. [8] The cast features eighty-seven narrators, some of whom are contributors to the book who narrate their own chapters. Others feature only as narrators in the audiobook; this cast includes actress Danai Gurira, broadcast journalist Soledad O'Brien, and singer Phylicia Rashad, among many others. [9] In the interest of enabling each narrator to give a passionate performance, the producers did not assign chapters to narrators and instead allowed cast members to choose which contributions they were interested in narrating. Narration was recorded in December 2020 and January 2021. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, most narrators recorded at home studio setups. [8]
Four Hundred Souls features essays, biographical sketches, short stories, and poems by ninety Black writers. It chronologically spans the 400-year length of African-American history, beginning in 1619 with the arrival of the first Africans in Virginia and ending in 2019. [10] The book is divided into ten sections, each of which examine a period of 40 years. Each section concludes with a poem. [3] There are eighty essays featured in the book, each of which chronicle a five-year period. [6] Kendi and Blain invited some contributors to write about specific topics, such as asking Barbara Smith to write about the Combahee River Collective. With other writers, they worked together to find subjects that were good fits. In every case, the choice was up to the contributor. [2] This "democratising approach" makes Four Hundred Souls a "people's history" told by and about African Americans themselves. [11]
Following an introduction by Ibram X. Kendi, [2] the anthology begins with an essay by Nikole Hannah-Jones, who developed The New York Times' 1619 Project. Chapter subjects include policy, political events, elements of culture, revised historical narratives, and biographies. [12] Some chapters offer fresh insight on well-known subjects, such as the essays on Phyllis Wheatley, Booker T. Washington, and Black Power; while others spotlight little-known history, such as the life of Black New Yorker James McCune Smith. [3] [13] Each essay can function and be read individually, [4] but together they highlight the "entangled histories" of African America. [7] The book's final essay is written by Alicia Garza, who co-founded the Black Lives Matter movement. [3]
Thematic threads weave through the chronological chapters, such as the theme of whiteโBlack sexual encounters or perceptions (threading "Whipped for Lying With a Black Woman", "Sally Hemings", "Lynching", and "Anita Hill"). [13] Another theme is the dynamism of enslavement and racism, as chapters explore how white Americans shifted strategies in attempts to preserve power and how Black Americans perpetually "sought to define their freedom." [4] The resilience of the Black American community is another important theme in Four Hundred Souls. [3] The book portrays "the endurance and resilience of how Blacks resisted, revolted, organized, demanded, protested and rebelled", as reviewer George McCalman describes. [14] Four Hundred Souls also leverages its diverse pool of contributors to deconstruct the notion of a monolithic African America. [15] Advancing this theme, the book's "eighty different minds, reflecting eighty different perspectives" reveals a "community of difference" that brings together Black America without homogenizing the many individuals in the community. [1]
The anthology's overall voice is earnest and intimate. [7] [14] A "human element" lies at the heart of Four Hundred Souls' success as a book. [4] The poetry, punctuating every forty-year section, contributes to humanizing and "elaborat[ing] on the historical narratives", enhancing the punch of academic information by giving it a personal edge. [12] [7]
For the audiobook edition, each chapter is read by one of the cast's eighty-seven narrators. [8] The readings vary in tone across the book, ranging between "straightforward or theatrical as appropriate" to the chapter. Between chapters, multiple narrators read the transitions simultaneously, their voices overlapping in collective lines. [16] In the credits, each cast member speaks their own name. [8]
One World, an imprint of Random House, published Four Hundred Souls and released the book on February 2, 2021. [3] The book sold as a 528-page hardcover for $32 (~$36.00 in 2023) ( USD) on release. [17] The cover, designed by Michael Morris, features artwork by Bayo Iribhogbe that according to editor Blain depicts the book's "spirit of community". [18] A paperback edition was released a year later, on February 1, 2022. [19]
Penguin Random House released the audiobook of Four Hundred Souls in February 2021, selling the trade edition for $22.50 and the library edition for $95. [20] The audiobook edition does not include the endnotes of the print version. Its runtime is fourteen hours and two minutes. [21]
Ahead of and upon its release, Four Hundred Souls met wide approval from readers and reviewers. The book debuted at number two on The New York Times nonfiction bestseller list for the week ending February 6, 2021. [22] In September 2021, GOBI Library Solutions ranked Four Hundred Souls second in a list of forty academic bestsellers for that year. [23] Washington Post editors and reviewers numbered it among the Post's "50 notable works of nonfiction" in 2021. [24] Four Hundred Souls was also an IndieBound Bestseller. [3]
Publishers Weekly described the book as an "energetic collection" that "stands apart from standard anthologies of African American history." [10] Writing for Booklist, Leslie Williams wrote that Four Hundred Souls "crackles with rage, beauty, bitter humor, and the indomitable will to survive." [12] In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews called it an "impeccable, epic, essential vision of American history as a whole and a testament to the resilience of Black people." Kirkus singled out the essays of Raquel Willis, Robert Jones Jr., Barbara Smith, and Esther Armah as the "standouts" in the book. [3] Binghamton University newspaper BingUNews called Four Hundred Souls "one of [Keisha N.] Blain's most significant professional accomplishments". [25] Seattle Book Reviews rated Four Hundred Souls five stars out of five. [17]
Numerous reviewers urged the public to read it and for libraries to stock it. [3] [17] Library Journal declared Four Hundred Souls essential to include in libraries. [21] Reviewer Don Polite especially praised its essay format, suggesting the book is "almost tailor-made" to accompany undergraduate courses or inspire discussion in community spaces. [4]
In an otherwise glowing review of the book, Randal Maurice Jelks pointed out Four Hundred Souls' "sparse attention" to Black-created institutions such as churches, banks, businesses, cubs, temples, mosques, and more; only a few chapters in the book directly address Black institutions despite their importance in the African American experience. [7] Although the book includes endnotes, Library Journal suggests that readers seeking a traditionally "scholarly treatment of the history of racism in the United States" might be better served by a book like Kendi's Stamped from the Beginning. [21]
The magazine BookPage recognized Four Hundred Souls' audiobook edition with a starred review and praised the cast as a "heartfelt chorus of voices". BookPage's review noted the "layered, echoing voices" used in the audiobook's transitions and complimented the "haunting, emotional effect" achieved by such collective lines. [16] AudioFile magazine spotlighted J. D. Jackson, Kevin R. Free, January LaVoy, and Robin Miles for being especially "masterful" while adding that "at least two dozen more" narrators deserved the same praise. [20]
In 2021, AudioFile recognized Four Hundred Souls with its Earphones Award for Best Audiobook. [20] The American Library Association shortlisted Four Hundred Souls as a finalist for the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. [26] Four Hundred Souls was also a 2022 finalist for the Multi-voiced Performance category of the Audie Awards administered by the Audio Publishers Association. [27]
Four Hundred Souls is comprised of four parts, each of which contains ten essays and ends with a poem. [3] The audiobook adds narrators. [9]
Period | Writer | Narrator [a] | Title | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Introduction | Ibram X. Kendi | Ibram X. Kendi | "A Community of Souls" | |
Part One | 1619โ1624 | Nikole Hannah-Jones | Nikole Hanna-Jones | "Arrival" |
1624โ1629 | Molefi Kete Asante | Zainab Jah | "Africa" | |
1629โ1634 | Ijeoma Oluo | Soneela Nankani | "Whipped for Lying with a Black Woman" | |
1634โ1639 | DaMaris B. Hill | Bahni Turpin | "Tobacco" | |
1639โ1644 | Brenda E. Stevenson | Imani Parks | "Black Women's Labor" | |
1644โ1649 | Maurice Carlos Ruffin | Adam Lazarre-White | "Anthony Johnson, Colony of Virginia" | |
1649โ1654 | Heather Andrea Williams | James Monroe Iglehart | "The Black Family" | |
1654โ1659 | Nakia D. Parker | Brianna Collette | "Unfree Labor" | |
Poem | Jericho Brown | J. D. Jackson | "Upon Arrival" | |
Part Two | 1659โ1664 | Jennifer L. Morgan | Chantรฉ McCormick | "Elizabeth Keye" |
1664โ1669 | Jemar Tisby | Donte Bonner | "The Virginia Law on Baptism" | |
1669โ1674 | David A. Love | Peter Francis James | "The Royal African Company" | |
1674โ1679 | Heather C. McGhee | Heather C. McGhee | "Bacon's Rebellion" | |
1679โ1684 | Kellie Carter Jackson | Kellie Carter Jackson | "The Virginia Law That Forbade Bearing Arms; or the Virginia Law That Forbade Armed Self-Defense" | |
1684โ1689 | Laurence Ralph | Terrence Kidd | "The Code Noir" | |
1689โ1694 | Christopher J. Lebron | Bill Quinn | "The Germantown Petition Against Slavery" | |
1694โ1699 | Mary E. Hicks | Susan Heyward | "The Middle Passage" | |
Poem | Phillip B. Williams | Bahni Turpin | "Mama, Where You Keep Your Gun?" | |
Part Three | 1699โ1704 | Brandon R. Byrd | Leslie Odom Jr. | "The Selling of Joseph" |
1704โ1709 | Kai Wright | Kai Wright | "The Virginia Slave Codes" | |
1709โ1714 | Herb Boyd | William DeMerrit | "The Revolt in New York" | |
1714โ1719 | Sasha Turner | T. L. Thompson | "The Slave Market" | |
1719โ1724 | Sylviane A. Diouf | Robin Miles | "Maroons and Marronage" | |
1724โ1729 | Corey D. B. Walker | J. D. Jackson | "The Spirituals" | |
1729โ1734 | Walter C. Rucker | Zenzi Williams | "African Identities" | |
1734โ1739 | Brentin Mock | Torian Brackett | "From Fort Mose to Soul City" | |
Poem | Morgan Parker | Morgan Parker | "Before Revolution" | |
Part Four | 1739โ1744 | Wesley Lowery | Sullivan Jones | "The Stono Rebellion" |
1744โ1749 | Nafissa Thompson-Spires | Karen Chilton | "Lucy Terry Prince" | |
1749โ1754 | Dorothy E. Roberts | Jamal Henderson | "Race and the Enlightenment" | |
1754โ1759 | Kyle T. Mays | David Sadzin | "Blackness and Indigeneity" | |
1759โ1764 | Tiya Miles | Kristen Ariza | "One Black Boy: The Great Lakes and the Midwest" | |
1764โ1769 | Alexis Pauline Gumbs | Shayna Small | "Phillis Wheatley" | |
1769โ1774 | William J. Barber II | Leonard Dozier | "David George" | |
1774โ1779 | Martha S. Jones | Danai Gurira | "The American Revolution" | |
Poem | Justin Phillip Reed | Andia Winslow | "Not Without Some Instances of Uncommon Cruelty" | |
Part Five | 1779โ1784 | Daina Ramey Berry | Dashawn Barnes | "Savannah, Georgia" |
1784โ1789 | Donna Brazile | Dominic Hoffman | "The U.S. Constitution" | |
1789โ1794 | Annette Gordon-Reed | January LaVoy | "Sally Hemings" | |
1794โ1799 | Deirdre Cooper Owens | Tashi Thomas | "The Fugitive Slave Act" | |
1799โ1804 | Craig Steven Wilder | Rhett Samuel Price | "Higher Education" | |
1804โ1809 | Kiese Laymon | Kevin R. Free | "Cotton" | |
1809โ1814 | Clint Smith | Keith David | "The Louisiana Rebellion" | |
1814โ1819 | Raquel Willis | Ron Butler | "Queer Sexuality" | |
Poem | Ishmael Reed | Adam Lazarre-White | "Remembering the Albany 3" | |
Part Six | 1819โ1824 | Robert Jones Jr. | Desmond Manny | "Denmark Vesey" |
1824โ1829 | Pamela Newkirk | Anita Welch | "Freedom's Journal" | |
1829โ1834 | Kathryn Sophia Belle | Marisha Tapera | "Maria Stewart" | |
1834โ1839 | Eugene Scott | Damian Thompson | "The National Negro Conventions" | |
1839โ1844 | Allyson Hobbs | Imani Jade Powers | "Racial Passing" | |
1844โ1849 | Harriet A. Washington | Ethan Herisse | "James McCune Smith, M.D." | |
1849โ1854 | Mitchell S. Jackson | Dion Graham | "Oregon" | |
1854โ1859 | john a. powell | Leon Nixon | "Dred Scott" | |
Poem | Donika Kelly | Tashi Thomas | "Compromise" | |
Part Seven | 1859โ1864 | Adam Serwer | James Fouhey | "Frederick Douglass" |
1864โ1869 | Jamelle Bouie | Prentice Onayemi | "The Civil War" | |
1869โ1874 | Michael Harriot | Mirron Willis | "Reconstruction" | |
1874โ1879 | Tera W. Hunter | Samira Wiley | "Atlanta" | |
1879โ1884 | William A. Darity Jr. | Sean Crisden | "John Wayne Niles" | |
1884โ1889 | Kali Nicole Gross | Adenrele Ojo | "Philadelphia" | |
1889โ1894 | Crystal N. Feimster | Heather Alicia Simms | "Lynching" | |
1894โ1899 | Blair L. M. Kelley | Joniece Abbott-Pratt | "Plessy v. Ferguson" | |
Poem | Mahogany L. Browne | Mahogany L. Browne | "John Wayne Niles ... .--. . .- -.- ... / - --- Ermias Joseph Asghedom" | |
Part Eight | 1899โ1904 | Derrick Alridge | Jerome Harmann-Hardeman | "Booker T. Washington" |
1904โ1909 | Howard Bryant | Ryan Vincent Anderson | "Jack Johnson" | |
1909โ1914 | Beverly Guy-Sheftall | Robin Eller | "The Black Public Intellectual" | |
1914โ1919 | Isabel Wilkerson | Quincy Tyler Bernstine | "The Great Migration" | |
1919โ1924 | Michelle Duster | Jade Wheeler | "Red Summer" | |
1924โ1929 | Farah Jasmine Griffin | Karen Murray | "The Harlem Renaissance" | |
1929โ1934 | Robin D. G. Kelley | Andre Blake | "The Great Depression" | |
1934โ1939 | Bernice L. McFadden | Phylicia Rashad | "Zora Neale Hurston" | |
Poem | Patricia Smith | Patricia Smith | "Coiled and Unleashed" | |
Part Nine | 1939โ1944 | Chad Williams | Amir Abdullah | "The Black Soldier" |
1944โ1949 | Russell Rickford | Sheryl Mebane | "The Black Left" | |
1949โ1954 | Sherrilyn Ifill | Sherrilyn Ifill | "The Road to Brown v. Board of Education" | |
1954โ1959 | Imani Perry | Lisa Renee Pitts | "Black Arts" | |
1959โ1964 | Charles E. Cobb Jr. | Genesis Oliver | "The Civil Rights Movement" | |
1964โ1969 | Peniel Joseph | Dennis Logan | "Black Power" | |
1969โ1974 | Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor | Tovah Ott | "Property" | |
1974โ1979 | Barbara Smith | Ella Turenne | "Combahee River Collective" | |
Poem | Chet'la Sebree | Robin Miles | "And the Record Repeats" | |
Part Ten | 1979โ1984 | James Forman Jr. | Jesus Martinez | "The War on Drugs" |
1984โ1989 | Bakari Kitwana | Cary Hite | "The Hip-Hop Generation" | |
1989โ1994 | Salamishah Tillet | Keylor Leigh | "Anita Hill" | |
1994โ1999 | Angela Y. Davis | Angela Y. Davis | "The Crime Bill" | |
1999โ2004 | Esther Armah | Joshua David Scarlett | "The Black Immigrant" | |
2004โ2009 | Deborah Douglas | Soledad O'Brien | "Hurricane Katrina" | |
2009โ2014 | Karine Jean-Pierre | Nicole Lewis | "The Shelby Ruling" | |
2014โ2019 | Alicia Garza | Alicia Garza | "Black Lives Matter" | |
Poem | Joshua Bennett | Joshua Bennett | "American Abecedarian" | |
Conclusion | Keisha N. Blain | Keisha N. Blain | "Our Ancestors' Wildest Dreams" |
![]() First edition cover | |
Editors |
Ibram X. Kendi Keisha N. Blain |
---|---|
Cover artist | Bayo Iribhogbe (art) Michael Morris (design) |
Language | English |
Subject | African-American history |
Publisher | One World |
Publication date | February 2, 2021 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback), e-book, audiobook |
Pages | 528 |
Award | Earphones Award for Best Audiobook ( AudioFile) |
ISBN | 978-0-593-13404-7 (First edition hardcover) |
OCLC | 1184240347 |
973/.0496073 | |
LC Class | E185 .F625 2021 |
Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619โ2019 is a 2021 anthology of essays, commentaries, personal reflections, short stories, and poetry, compiled and edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain. Conceived and created to commemorate the four hundred years that had passed since the arrival of the first Africans in Virginia, the book concerns African-American history and collects works written by ninety Black writers. A winner or finalist of multiple awards in its print and audiobook editions, Four Hundred Souls has been widely praised by reviewers for its prose and historical content.
From 1841 to 2019, the vast majority of books telling a history of African America were written by individuals, also almost always male. [1] As the 400th anniversary of Black Africans' arrival in British North America approached, Ibram X. Kendi contemplated how to commemorate the "symbolic birthday of Black America" and the whole 400-year period. Kendi resolved to invert the trend by "bringing together a community of writers" and encouraging them to both write history and make history, creating an artifact capturing what Black Americans were thinking during that anniversary year. [2]
Kendi and Keisha N. Blain collaborated to compile and edit the book project, titled Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619โ2019, and together they invited ten poets and eighty writers from a diverse range of professionsโincluding historians, anthropologists, journalists, novelists, economists, theologians, educators, and moreโto contribute. [3] Reviewer Don Polite called the resulting contributor list a "who's who of African America" and "a remarkable cross section of the Black community". [4] Many contributors are "huge names", but Four Hundred Souls also features numerous "up-and-coming writers". [5] Most of the authors wrote their chapters in 2019. [2]
Blain remembered the process being a "moving experience". The COVID-19 pandemic began while Kendi and Blain were in the process of assembling the book; feeling that she was at work on something historically significant comforted Blain during a time of intense loss and loneliness. [6] The book is dedicated "to Black lives lost to COVID-19". [2]
While contrasting with past single-author histories of Black America, [1] Four Hundred Souls also emerges in a tradition of Black-written anthologies "of historical observations, poetry, scholarship, and vignettes" in the vein of Abraham Chapman's Black Voices: An Anthology of Afro-American Literature and Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. [7]
During a later stage of producing the book, Kendi and Blain decided that for the audiobook version, they wanted to "actualize what [Kendi] wrote about" in his introductory description of the book's "community of writers [being] like a choir". To evoke this effect, they chose to pursue a full-cast audiobook. [8] The cast features eighty-seven narrators, some of whom are contributors to the book who narrate their own chapters. Others feature only as narrators in the audiobook; this cast includes actress Danai Gurira, broadcast journalist Soledad O'Brien, and singer Phylicia Rashad, among many others. [9] In the interest of enabling each narrator to give a passionate performance, the producers did not assign chapters to narrators and instead allowed cast members to choose which contributions they were interested in narrating. Narration was recorded in December 2020 and January 2021. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, most narrators recorded at home studio setups. [8]
Four Hundred Souls features essays, biographical sketches, short stories, and poems by ninety Black writers. It chronologically spans the 400-year length of African-American history, beginning in 1619 with the arrival of the first Africans in Virginia and ending in 2019. [10] The book is divided into ten sections, each of which examine a period of 40 years. Each section concludes with a poem. [3] There are eighty essays featured in the book, each of which chronicle a five-year period. [6] Kendi and Blain invited some contributors to write about specific topics, such as asking Barbara Smith to write about the Combahee River Collective. With other writers, they worked together to find subjects that were good fits. In every case, the choice was up to the contributor. [2] This "democratising approach" makes Four Hundred Souls a "people's history" told by and about African Americans themselves. [11]
Following an introduction by Ibram X. Kendi, [2] the anthology begins with an essay by Nikole Hannah-Jones, who developed The New York Times' 1619 Project. Chapter subjects include policy, political events, elements of culture, revised historical narratives, and biographies. [12] Some chapters offer fresh insight on well-known subjects, such as the essays on Phyllis Wheatley, Booker T. Washington, and Black Power; while others spotlight little-known history, such as the life of Black New Yorker James McCune Smith. [3] [13] Each essay can function and be read individually, [4] but together they highlight the "entangled histories" of African America. [7] The book's final essay is written by Alicia Garza, who co-founded the Black Lives Matter movement. [3]
Thematic threads weave through the chronological chapters, such as the theme of whiteโBlack sexual encounters or perceptions (threading "Whipped for Lying With a Black Woman", "Sally Hemings", "Lynching", and "Anita Hill"). [13] Another theme is the dynamism of enslavement and racism, as chapters explore how white Americans shifted strategies in attempts to preserve power and how Black Americans perpetually "sought to define their freedom." [4] The resilience of the Black American community is another important theme in Four Hundred Souls. [3] The book portrays "the endurance and resilience of how Blacks resisted, revolted, organized, demanded, protested and rebelled", as reviewer George McCalman describes. [14] Four Hundred Souls also leverages its diverse pool of contributors to deconstruct the notion of a monolithic African America. [15] Advancing this theme, the book's "eighty different minds, reflecting eighty different perspectives" reveals a "community of difference" that brings together Black America without homogenizing the many individuals in the community. [1]
The anthology's overall voice is earnest and intimate. [7] [14] A "human element" lies at the heart of Four Hundred Souls' success as a book. [4] The poetry, punctuating every forty-year section, contributes to humanizing and "elaborat[ing] on the historical narratives", enhancing the punch of academic information by giving it a personal edge. [12] [7]
For the audiobook edition, each chapter is read by one of the cast's eighty-seven narrators. [8] The readings vary in tone across the book, ranging between "straightforward or theatrical as appropriate" to the chapter. Between chapters, multiple narrators read the transitions simultaneously, their voices overlapping in collective lines. [16] In the credits, each cast member speaks their own name. [8]
One World, an imprint of Random House, published Four Hundred Souls and released the book on February 2, 2021. [3] The book sold as a 528-page hardcover for $32 (~$36.00 in 2023) ( USD) on release. [17] The cover, designed by Michael Morris, features artwork by Bayo Iribhogbe that according to editor Blain depicts the book's "spirit of community". [18] A paperback edition was released a year later, on February 1, 2022. [19]
Penguin Random House released the audiobook of Four Hundred Souls in February 2021, selling the trade edition for $22.50 and the library edition for $95. [20] The audiobook edition does not include the endnotes of the print version. Its runtime is fourteen hours and two minutes. [21]
Ahead of and upon its release, Four Hundred Souls met wide approval from readers and reviewers. The book debuted at number two on The New York Times nonfiction bestseller list for the week ending February 6, 2021. [22] In September 2021, GOBI Library Solutions ranked Four Hundred Souls second in a list of forty academic bestsellers for that year. [23] Washington Post editors and reviewers numbered it among the Post's "50 notable works of nonfiction" in 2021. [24] Four Hundred Souls was also an IndieBound Bestseller. [3]
Publishers Weekly described the book as an "energetic collection" that "stands apart from standard anthologies of African American history." [10] Writing for Booklist, Leslie Williams wrote that Four Hundred Souls "crackles with rage, beauty, bitter humor, and the indomitable will to survive." [12] In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews called it an "impeccable, epic, essential vision of American history as a whole and a testament to the resilience of Black people." Kirkus singled out the essays of Raquel Willis, Robert Jones Jr., Barbara Smith, and Esther Armah as the "standouts" in the book. [3] Binghamton University newspaper BingUNews called Four Hundred Souls "one of [Keisha N.] Blain's most significant professional accomplishments". [25] Seattle Book Reviews rated Four Hundred Souls five stars out of five. [17]
Numerous reviewers urged the public to read it and for libraries to stock it. [3] [17] Library Journal declared Four Hundred Souls essential to include in libraries. [21] Reviewer Don Polite especially praised its essay format, suggesting the book is "almost tailor-made" to accompany undergraduate courses or inspire discussion in community spaces. [4]
In an otherwise glowing review of the book, Randal Maurice Jelks pointed out Four Hundred Souls' "sparse attention" to Black-created institutions such as churches, banks, businesses, cubs, temples, mosques, and more; only a few chapters in the book directly address Black institutions despite their importance in the African American experience. [7] Although the book includes endnotes, Library Journal suggests that readers seeking a traditionally "scholarly treatment of the history of racism in the United States" might be better served by a book like Kendi's Stamped from the Beginning. [21]
The magazine BookPage recognized Four Hundred Souls' audiobook edition with a starred review and praised the cast as a "heartfelt chorus of voices". BookPage's review noted the "layered, echoing voices" used in the audiobook's transitions and complimented the "haunting, emotional effect" achieved by such collective lines. [16] AudioFile magazine spotlighted J. D. Jackson, Kevin R. Free, January LaVoy, and Robin Miles for being especially "masterful" while adding that "at least two dozen more" narrators deserved the same praise. [20]
In 2021, AudioFile recognized Four Hundred Souls with its Earphones Award for Best Audiobook. [20] The American Library Association shortlisted Four Hundred Souls as a finalist for the 2022 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. [26] Four Hundred Souls was also a 2022 finalist for the Multi-voiced Performance category of the Audie Awards administered by the Audio Publishers Association. [27]
Four Hundred Souls is comprised of four parts, each of which contains ten essays and ends with a poem. [3] The audiobook adds narrators. [9]
Period | Writer | Narrator [a] | Title | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Introduction | Ibram X. Kendi | Ibram X. Kendi | "A Community of Souls" | |
Part One | 1619โ1624 | Nikole Hannah-Jones | Nikole Hanna-Jones | "Arrival" |
1624โ1629 | Molefi Kete Asante | Zainab Jah | "Africa" | |
1629โ1634 | Ijeoma Oluo | Soneela Nankani | "Whipped for Lying with a Black Woman" | |
1634โ1639 | DaMaris B. Hill | Bahni Turpin | "Tobacco" | |
1639โ1644 | Brenda E. Stevenson | Imani Parks | "Black Women's Labor" | |
1644โ1649 | Maurice Carlos Ruffin | Adam Lazarre-White | "Anthony Johnson, Colony of Virginia" | |
1649โ1654 | Heather Andrea Williams | James Monroe Iglehart | "The Black Family" | |
1654โ1659 | Nakia D. Parker | Brianna Collette | "Unfree Labor" | |
Poem | Jericho Brown | J. D. Jackson | "Upon Arrival" | |
Part Two | 1659โ1664 | Jennifer L. Morgan | Chantรฉ McCormick | "Elizabeth Keye" |
1664โ1669 | Jemar Tisby | Donte Bonner | "The Virginia Law on Baptism" | |
1669โ1674 | David A. Love | Peter Francis James | "The Royal African Company" | |
1674โ1679 | Heather C. McGhee | Heather C. McGhee | "Bacon's Rebellion" | |
1679โ1684 | Kellie Carter Jackson | Kellie Carter Jackson | "The Virginia Law That Forbade Bearing Arms; or the Virginia Law That Forbade Armed Self-Defense" | |
1684โ1689 | Laurence Ralph | Terrence Kidd | "The Code Noir" | |
1689โ1694 | Christopher J. Lebron | Bill Quinn | "The Germantown Petition Against Slavery" | |
1694โ1699 | Mary E. Hicks | Susan Heyward | "The Middle Passage" | |
Poem | Phillip B. Williams | Bahni Turpin | "Mama, Where You Keep Your Gun?" | |
Part Three | 1699โ1704 | Brandon R. Byrd | Leslie Odom Jr. | "The Selling of Joseph" |
1704โ1709 | Kai Wright | Kai Wright | "The Virginia Slave Codes" | |
1709โ1714 | Herb Boyd | William DeMerrit | "The Revolt in New York" | |
1714โ1719 | Sasha Turner | T. L. Thompson | "The Slave Market" | |
1719โ1724 | Sylviane A. Diouf | Robin Miles | "Maroons and Marronage" | |
1724โ1729 | Corey D. B. Walker | J. D. Jackson | "The Spirituals" | |
1729โ1734 | Walter C. Rucker | Zenzi Williams | "African Identities" | |
1734โ1739 | Brentin Mock | Torian Brackett | "From Fort Mose to Soul City" | |
Poem | Morgan Parker | Morgan Parker | "Before Revolution" | |
Part Four | 1739โ1744 | Wesley Lowery | Sullivan Jones | "The Stono Rebellion" |
1744โ1749 | Nafissa Thompson-Spires | Karen Chilton | "Lucy Terry Prince" | |
1749โ1754 | Dorothy E. Roberts | Jamal Henderson | "Race and the Enlightenment" | |
1754โ1759 | Kyle T. Mays | David Sadzin | "Blackness and Indigeneity" | |
1759โ1764 | Tiya Miles | Kristen Ariza | "One Black Boy: The Great Lakes and the Midwest" | |
1764โ1769 | Alexis Pauline Gumbs | Shayna Small | "Phillis Wheatley" | |
1769โ1774 | William J. Barber II | Leonard Dozier | "David George" | |
1774โ1779 | Martha S. Jones | Danai Gurira | "The American Revolution" | |
Poem | Justin Phillip Reed | Andia Winslow | "Not Without Some Instances of Uncommon Cruelty" | |
Part Five | 1779โ1784 | Daina Ramey Berry | Dashawn Barnes | "Savannah, Georgia" |
1784โ1789 | Donna Brazile | Dominic Hoffman | "The U.S. Constitution" | |
1789โ1794 | Annette Gordon-Reed | January LaVoy | "Sally Hemings" | |
1794โ1799 | Deirdre Cooper Owens | Tashi Thomas | "The Fugitive Slave Act" | |
1799โ1804 | Craig Steven Wilder | Rhett Samuel Price | "Higher Education" | |
1804โ1809 | Kiese Laymon | Kevin R. Free | "Cotton" | |
1809โ1814 | Clint Smith | Keith David | "The Louisiana Rebellion" | |
1814โ1819 | Raquel Willis | Ron Butler | "Queer Sexuality" | |
Poem | Ishmael Reed | Adam Lazarre-White | "Remembering the Albany 3" | |
Part Six | 1819โ1824 | Robert Jones Jr. | Desmond Manny | "Denmark Vesey" |
1824โ1829 | Pamela Newkirk | Anita Welch | "Freedom's Journal" | |
1829โ1834 | Kathryn Sophia Belle | Marisha Tapera | "Maria Stewart" | |
1834โ1839 | Eugene Scott | Damian Thompson | "The National Negro Conventions" | |
1839โ1844 | Allyson Hobbs | Imani Jade Powers | "Racial Passing" | |
1844โ1849 | Harriet A. Washington | Ethan Herisse | "James McCune Smith, M.D." | |
1849โ1854 | Mitchell S. Jackson | Dion Graham | "Oregon" | |
1854โ1859 | john a. powell | Leon Nixon | "Dred Scott" | |
Poem | Donika Kelly | Tashi Thomas | "Compromise" | |
Part Seven | 1859โ1864 | Adam Serwer | James Fouhey | "Frederick Douglass" |
1864โ1869 | Jamelle Bouie | Prentice Onayemi | "The Civil War" | |
1869โ1874 | Michael Harriot | Mirron Willis | "Reconstruction" | |
1874โ1879 | Tera W. Hunter | Samira Wiley | "Atlanta" | |
1879โ1884 | William A. Darity Jr. | Sean Crisden | "John Wayne Niles" | |
1884โ1889 | Kali Nicole Gross | Adenrele Ojo | "Philadelphia" | |
1889โ1894 | Crystal N. Feimster | Heather Alicia Simms | "Lynching" | |
1894โ1899 | Blair L. M. Kelley | Joniece Abbott-Pratt | "Plessy v. Ferguson" | |
Poem | Mahogany L. Browne | Mahogany L. Browne | "John Wayne Niles ... .--. . .- -.- ... / - --- Ermias Joseph Asghedom" | |
Part Eight | 1899โ1904 | Derrick Alridge | Jerome Harmann-Hardeman | "Booker T. Washington" |
1904โ1909 | Howard Bryant | Ryan Vincent Anderson | "Jack Johnson" | |
1909โ1914 | Beverly Guy-Sheftall | Robin Eller | "The Black Public Intellectual" | |
1914โ1919 | Isabel Wilkerson | Quincy Tyler Bernstine | "The Great Migration" | |
1919โ1924 | Michelle Duster | Jade Wheeler | "Red Summer" | |
1924โ1929 | Farah Jasmine Griffin | Karen Murray | "The Harlem Renaissance" | |
1929โ1934 | Robin D. G. Kelley | Andre Blake | "The Great Depression" | |
1934โ1939 | Bernice L. McFadden | Phylicia Rashad | "Zora Neale Hurston" | |
Poem | Patricia Smith | Patricia Smith | "Coiled and Unleashed" | |
Part Nine | 1939โ1944 | Chad Williams | Amir Abdullah | "The Black Soldier" |
1944โ1949 | Russell Rickford | Sheryl Mebane | "The Black Left" | |
1949โ1954 | Sherrilyn Ifill | Sherrilyn Ifill | "The Road to Brown v. Board of Education" | |
1954โ1959 | Imani Perry | Lisa Renee Pitts | "Black Arts" | |
1959โ1964 | Charles E. Cobb Jr. | Genesis Oliver | "The Civil Rights Movement" | |
1964โ1969 | Peniel Joseph | Dennis Logan | "Black Power" | |
1969โ1974 | Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor | Tovah Ott | "Property" | |
1974โ1979 | Barbara Smith | Ella Turenne | "Combahee River Collective" | |
Poem | Chet'la Sebree | Robin Miles | "And the Record Repeats" | |
Part Ten | 1979โ1984 | James Forman Jr. | Jesus Martinez | "The War on Drugs" |
1984โ1989 | Bakari Kitwana | Cary Hite | "The Hip-Hop Generation" | |
1989โ1994 | Salamishah Tillet | Keylor Leigh | "Anita Hill" | |
1994โ1999 | Angela Y. Davis | Angela Y. Davis | "The Crime Bill" | |
1999โ2004 | Esther Armah | Joshua David Scarlett | "The Black Immigrant" | |
2004โ2009 | Deborah Douglas | Soledad O'Brien | "Hurricane Katrina" | |
2009โ2014 | Karine Jean-Pierre | Nicole Lewis | "The Shelby Ruling" | |
2014โ2019 | Alicia Garza | Alicia Garza | "Black Lives Matter" | |
Poem | Joshua Bennett | Joshua Bennett | "American Abecedarian" | |
Conclusion | Keisha N. Blain | Keisha N. Blain | "Our Ancestors' Wildest Dreams" |