In this collection of interviews and essays, which is divided into four parts, Yancy (Emory Univ.) engages in a timely conversation on racism with several well-known scholars and academic journalists. His interviews and essays in parts 1 and 2 contextualize his reflections, as well as those of his interlocutors, on hate mail (including a racist death threat Yancy received) with the dual aim of exposing racism and shedding light on the white backlash engendered by his teaching. Parts 3 and 4 are, respectively, devoted to biographical sketches of three historically important Black philosophers (Thomas Nelson Baker, Gilbert Haven Jones, and Joyce Mitchell Cook) and to conversations with Anita L. Allen on Black women philosophers, Brad Evans on hate speech, Robert L. Williams on Ebonics, and Geneva Smitherman on Black language and resistance. . . Summing Up: Recommended. All levels.

Choice Reviews

Across Black Spaces is a path-breaking volume of essays and interviews by one of the top African American philosophers. It is a masterful work, full of vivid writing, definitive analyses, and sharp critiques of domination. Yancy is clearly the leading philosopher and critic of race and racism in the nation. I predict that this highly learned work with its wit and genius will transform our perception of what is possible in a racialized society. Yancy's work is magnificent and in some places truly revolutionary.

Molefi Kete Asante, professor and chair, Department of Africology, Temple University, author of The History of Africa

Across Black Spaces is an opportunity for both those who know George Yancy's vast opus and new readers to encounter a distillation of his leading themes and reflections. Yancy is now one of our great public intellectuals and this collection of essays and interviews is an inspiring introduction to the realities of black experience in the United States.

Naomi Zack, Lehman College, CUNY

This collection features George Yancy at his best. Yancy is fearless in his quest to ground philosophy in lived experience that is both fully human and Black.

Shannon Sullivan, author of Good White People: The Problem of Middle-Class White Anti-Racism

By revealing Yancy’s own experiences as a Black man, Across Black Spaces offers us a mirror in which to see our own. This is an essential resource in helping us do so.

Todd May, Class of 1941 Memorial Professor of the Humanities, Clemson University

With a keen eye looking beyond the academy, George Yancy provides a treasure trove of deep insights into white-racist realities from his own and others’ Black experience. A leading global philosopher whose honest critical-racism writings have led to white death threats, he offers a panoply of life-hardened understandings for building a truly democratic America and, indeed, planet earth.

Joe Feagin, Distinguished Professor, Texas A&M University, and author of Racist America