Thick // And Other Essays

FINALIST FOR THE 2019 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD In eight highly praised treatises on beauty, media, money, and more, Tressie McMillan Cottom—award-winning professor and acclaimed author of Lower Ed —is unapologetically “thick”: deemed “thick where I should have been thin, more where I should have been less,” McMillan Cottom refuses to shy away from blending the personal with the political, from bringing her full self and voice to the fore of her analytical work. Thick “transforms narrative moments into analyses of whiteness, Black misogyny, and status-signaling as means of survival for Black women” ( Los Angeles Review of Books ) with “writing that is as deft as it is amusing” (Darnell L. Moore). This “transgressive, provocative, and brilliant” (Roxane Gay) collection cements McMillan Cottom’s position as a public thinker capable of shedding new light on what the “personal essay” can do. She turns her chosen form into a showcase for her critical dexterity, investigating everything from Saturday Night Live , LinkedIn, and BBQ Becky to sexual violence, infant mortality, and Trump rallies. Collected in an indispensable volume that speaks to the everywoman and the erudite alike, these unforgettable essays never fail to be “painfully honest and gloriously affirming” and hold “a mirror to your soul and to that of America” (Dorothy Roberts). Tressie McMillan Cottom is an associate professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the author of Lower Ed and Thick (The New Press). Her work has been featured by the The Daily Show , the New York Times , the Washington Post , PBS, NPR, Fresh Air , and The Atlantic , among others. She lives in Richmond, Virginia. Paperback: 224 pages Publisher: The New Press (January 8, 2019) Language: English ISBN-10: 1620974363 ISBN-13: 9781620975879 Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 1 x 8.8 inches Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces