Stakes is high

". . . exposes the contradictions at the heart of American life - between patriotism and justice, between freedom and inequality, incarceration, police violence. In a series of essays, [the author] holds us to account individually and as a nation . .. examines shortcomings, grapples with the anxiety of feeling stuck, and looks in new directions for the tools to build a just America . . . questions whether Martin Luther King, Jr. can ever really be the hero we need in our time, untangles the persistent cultural power of Bill Cosby, and weighs the value of police and prison abolition"--Provided by publisher.