THE SUM OF US (ADAPTED FOR YOUNG READERS)

An emphatically all-American guide to the high cost of racism—with a hopeful path forward.

In this condensed version of her 2021 adult original, South Side of Chicago native McGhee explores the toll racial injustice past and present takes on the life of every American. She compiles her work—half investigative journalism, half master class in sociopolitical research—in this accessible, abridged (but no less intellectual) volume. McGhee delves deeply into the zero-sum ideologies that are rooted in this nation’s origin story and underpin how freedoms were first conceived in direct relation to the enslavement of Africans, convincing many White Americans that Black and brown suffering was requisite to White success. A wide array of first-person accounts framed by quantitative data and McGhee’s own experiences as president of a noted research and advocacy think tank make for compelling storytelling about a tradition of White supremacy compromising all corners of public, private, and political life, from education to health care. The central argument of the book, however, is that our understanding of key social justice concepts is limited: We tend not to recognize that while racism is demonstrably and violently harmful to non-White people, it also results in White Americans’ suffering in marked and measurable ways. McGhee challenges many strongly held narratives; ultimately, with its tangible takeaways, this offering is optimistically forward looking and grounded in solidarity.

Of great value to anyone who values straight-to-the-point, thorough writing on race in America.