Ta-Nehisi Coates is one of my favorite journalists, and almost exclusively the writer I turn to when I want an intelligent response to issues related to race in America (the other is Gene Denby of NPR's Code Switch and PostBourgie). He's a great person to get caught-up on when you're in the mood for some serious long-form journalism. He's also the antidote to any conversation with an elderly person about the death of journalism because his articles are long and robust and meticulously researched and everything that journalism should be in 21st-century America.

I loved his memoir, The Beautiful Struggle, which will surprise exactly no one who read the above paragraph. He reflects on his childhood and coming-of-age specifically, which makes me very hopeful for future volumes about his time at Howard University or his early career as a professional writer. Coates grew up the son of an independent press owner/sometime Black Panther member in peak-crack epidemic Baltimore. I found everything about the memoir to be incredibly fresh and relevant and at a time in my life when I'm making a conscious effort to read more books by African American authors, I especially found The Beautiful Struggle to be a true pleasure that I hope others take the time to discover. It wouldn't surprise me if it's one day part of a larger canon of influential books by African American men.