{"product_id":"to-free-the-captives-a-plea-for-the-american-soul-9780593467985","title":"To Free the Captives: A Plea for the American Soul","description":"\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eTIME \u003c\/i\u003eAND \u003ci\u003eWASHINGTON POST \u003c\/i\u003eBEST BOOK OF THE YEAR - \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review \u003c\/i\u003eEditors' Choice - A stunning personal manifesto on memory, family, and history that explores how we in America might--together--come to a new view of our shared past\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A vulnerable, honest look at a life lived in a country still struggling with its evils...Hopeful...Beautiful and haunting.\" --Eddie S. Glaude Jr., author of \u003ci\u003eBegin Again\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 2020, heartsick from constant assaults on Black life, Tracy K. Smith found herself soul-searching and digging into the historical archive for help navigating the \"din of human division and strife.\" With lyricism and urgency, Smith draws on several avenues of thinking--personal, documentary, and spiritual--to understand who we are as a nation and what we might hope to mean to one another. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eTo Free the Captives\u003c\/i\u003e touches down in Sunflower, Alabama, the red-dirt town where Smith's father's family comes from, and where her grandfather returned after World War I with a hero's record but difficult prospects as a Black man. Smith considers his life and the life of her father through the lens of history. Hoping to connect with their strength and continuance, she assembles a new terminology of American life. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBearing courageous witness to the terms of Freedom afforded her as a Black woman, a mother, and an educator in the twenty-first century, Smith etches a portrait of where we find ourselves four hundred years into the American experiment. Weaving in an account of her growing spiritual practice, she argues that the soul is not merely a private site of respite or transcendence, but a tool for fulfilling our duties to each other, and a sounding board for our most pressing collective questions: Where are we going as a nation? Where have we been?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTRACY K. SMITH is a librettist, a translator, and the author of five acclaimed poetry collections, including \u003ci\u003eLife on Mars, \u003c\/i\u003e which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Her memoir, \u003ci\u003eOrdinary Light, \u003c\/i\u003e was a finalist for the National Book Award. From 2017 to 2019, she served as the twenty-second Poet Laureate of the United States. She lives in Massachusetts.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50892927041810,"sku":"9780593467985","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_e6bc24ee-80a0-4e5c-82c5-967980d75753.jpg?v=1748525050","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/to-free-the-captives-a-plea-for-the-american-soul-9780593467985","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}