Toni Morrison's new book, “The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations,'' arrives 400 years after the first enslaved Africans landed in Jamestown, 49 years after the first celebration of Black History Month at Kent State University, 25 months into the Trump presidency, and amid the political implosion of Virginia, erstwhile home of the Confederacy, whose top white politicians have admitted to wearing blackface and top black politician stands accused of sexual assault. Clearly we do not deserve Morrison, and clearly we need herbadly.
In this collection of nonfiction written over the past four decades, the revered (and sometimes controversial) author of “The Bluest Eye,'' “Song of Solomon,'' “Sula,'' “Beloved,'' “Jazz,'' and over 16 other books reinforces her status as a piercing and visionary analyst of history, society, literature, language, and, always, race.
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