My Vanishing Country

A Memoir

By: Bakari Sellers

Narrated by: Bakari Sellers

Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

What J. D. Vance did for Appalachia with Hillbilly Elegy, CNN analyst and one of the youngest state representatives in South Carolina history Bakari Sellers does for the rural South, in this important audiobook that illuminates the lives of America’s forgotten Black working-class men and women.

Part memoir, part historical and cultural analysis, My Vanishing Country is an eye-opening journey through the South's past, present, and future.

Anchored in in Bakari Seller’s hometown of Denmark, South Carolina, Sellers illuminates the pride and pain that continues to fertilize the soil of one of the poorest states in the nation. He traces his father’s rise to become, friend of Stokely Carmichael and Martin Luther King, a civil rights hero, and member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) , to explore the plight of the South's dwindling rural, Black working class - many of whom can trace their ancestry back for seven generations.

In his poetic personal history, we are awakened to the crisis affecting the other “Forgotten Men and Women” whom the media seldom acknowledges. For Sellers, these are his family members, neighbors, and friends. He humanizes the struggles that shape their lives: to gain access to healthcare as rural hospitals disappear; to make ends meet as the factories they have relied on shut down and move overseas; to hold on to precious traditions as their towns erode; to forge a path forward without succumbing to despair.

My Vanishing Country is also a love letter to fatherhood - to Sellers' father, his lodestar, whose life lessons have shaped him, and to his newborn twins, who he hopes will embrace the Sellers family name and honor its legacy. 

©2020 Bakari Sellers (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

What America Needs NOW!!!

I’ve watched Bakari Sellers on CNN many times and often wondered “who is this kid” going in on and often toe-to-toe with many political pundits? After reading “My Vanishing Country,” I am grateful for the opportunity to peer through the window of the eyes of a young, gifted and yes talented African American male who is unapologetically honest — while at the same, truthful and vulnerable in sharing his story: A story about an America that is vanishing before our very eyes.

This is a story that anyone who sincerely loves the spirit of America needs to read and hear regardless of race, ethnicity, class, creed or cultural background. It is a story which has woven the stories of many young and elder African American males who struggle to have not only their voices heard, but the many groups who are voiceless heard as well.

The son of a father of the Civil Rights movement, Sellers shares the very real story of his father’s involvement in the Movement, along with images of his own upbringing. Sellers shares his family, his love, his fears in a memoir that is so needed for this current generation.

When I saw a now fully bearded Bakari on CNN recently, I had no idea I would be drawn into a very remarkable book and so grateful to have taken this journey through his past, his present and his very promising future.

Our country will not vanish with voices like Bakari Sellers crying out in the wilderness.

A must read.

An honest and unabashedly opinionated memoir. This is not a fluff piece crafted with an eye towards a future run for office, but is rather a baring of the soul. Probably one of the most transparent and authentically introspective writings you’ll read from a politico, young or old.

Delightful!

I enjoyed listening to My Vanishing Country especially during this tumultuous time in our history. It touched my heart that Bakari thought enough of the Black female to include insight on our physical health disparities and struggles with mental health. Thank you for helping me endure the qurantine brought on by COVID-19.

Amazing

I connected with this memoir as a fellow son of Carolina who grew up in one of its small towns like Bakari. The detail with which he paints the pictures put you there. The case he lays out for the poor and marginalized is well thought out and carefully supported. I can’t wait for the second book.

Personal review

Excellent on telling his story, said nothing about how to move our country forward and wasted a lot of time talking about others bigotry and nothing about our great country that many of us have been able to move out of poverty and what it takes, more government is not the answer.

Real talk!

Loved this book. It is an unapologetic look at being a proud, caring African American man from the south. Thank you for representing our truths and stories with Grace and insight.

Job well done

Very well thought out memoir. I enjoyed every minute of it. I liked it so much I finished it in one day

Powerful Book

Sellers, my name sake, wrote an artful piece that had me cheering, crying, and hopeful the entire read. thank you for sharing

A Great American Story.

This is a great historical biography. The book is well written and read by the author. The story is rich with southern civil rights history, family and personal history and political ties that speak to current events. The narrative is warm, touching and relatable and I think has a message to all engaged citizens which explains the title. Very easy to listen to and in time for the upcoming election

Bakari Sellers makes me hopeful for his generation

As a member of Gen X, I feel proud of the passed on Torch!!! Sharing.

Brilliant!

Harsh realities eloquently articulated…

Bakari has an uncanny talent for communicating the painful stuff whilst keeping it real