Kendi's book is not only an epic reflection on the sociology, politics, and history of race and the necessary framing which must result from it, but it is part autobiography/memoir. Without spoilers, the life stories which populate Kendi's experience (which underscore the academic research they juxtapose) become an essential metaphor for what our country now faces and must engage deliberately and aggressively.

White readers, in particular, must accept that offering one's self the illusion of being a "non-racist" is not only impotent, it is dangerous, even contrary, to the work ahead. Antiracists don't merely persuade but engage policies and practices openly. We must (through every intersectional community linked by race, as well) expose, oppose, and revise that which we have failed even to reflect upon in the past.

Too few fields of academics have authors who can popularize complex ideas and theories. We know such writers by the handful in other fields: Diamond, Campbell, Hawking, Gould. I mark Kendi amongst these, now, the first I have read who creates an accessibility to academic thought in minority identity and politics. Kendi talks frequently about DuBois in the book, but I would include Henry Gates as a contemporary, as well. Kendi's work is not merely motivating, but moving. Essential reading in the history of race.