Unraveling the Myths That Shape Us: Ta-Nehisi Coates Returns with The Message

With Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates cemented himself as one of the most essential voices of his generation, carrying forward the legacy of James Baldwin with searing insight and unflinching honesty how they expose, distort, and shape our collective reality.. Now, in his highly anticipated new book, The Message, Coates turns his gaze toward the stories we tell—how they expose, distort, and shape our collective reality.

Traveling to three deeply resonant sites of conflict, Coates examines the ways mythmaking intertwines with power, history, and identity. In Dakar, Senegal, he experiences a city that is both real and ghost-haunted—a place that exists in the present yet is burdened by the weight of its past. In Columbia, South Carolina, he confronts the banning of his own work and the enduring grip of a fiercely protected American mythology, where statues of segregationists still cast long shadows. Finally, in Palestine, Coates bears witness to a devastating reality—the clash between the narratives we construct and the truth on the ground.

At a pivotal moment in American and global history, The Message challenges us to confront the destructive myths that govern our world and ourselves. With his signature clarity and depth, Coates calls on us to embrace even the hardest truths—for only in doing so can we hope to forge a more just and honest future.