Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

A Remix of the National Book Award-Winning Stamped from the Beginning

By: Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi

Narrated by: Jason Reynolds

The #1 New York Times bestseller and a USAToday bestseller!
A timely, crucial, and empowering exploration of racism--and antiracism--in America

This is NOT a history book.
This is a book about the here and now.
A book to help us better understand why we are where we are.
A book about race.

The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, to create dynamics that separate and silence. This remarkable reimagining of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi's National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning reveals the history of racist ideas in America, and inspires hope for an antiracist future. It takes you on a race journey from then to now, shows you why we feel how we feel, and why the poison of racism lingers. It also proves that while racist ideas have always been easy to fabricate and distribute, they can also be discredited.

Through a gripping, fast-paced, and energizing narrative written by beloved award-winner Jason Reynolds, this book shines a light on the many insidious forms of racist ideas--and on ways readers can identify and stamp out racist thoughts in their daily lives.

Critic reviews

Praise for Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You:

"An amazingly timely and stunningly accessible manifesto for young people....At times funny, at times somber but always packed with relevant information that is at once thoughtful and spot-on, Stamped is the book I wish I had as a young person and am so grateful my own children have now."
—Jacqueline Woodson, bestselling and National Book Award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming

"Sheer brilliance....An empowering, transformative read. Bravo."—Jewell Parker Rhodes, New York Times bestselling author of Ghost Boys

"Teens are often searching for their place in the world, in Stamped, Reynolds gives context to where we are, how we got here, and reminds young people-and all of us-that we have a choice to make about who we want to be. This unapologetic telling of the history of racism in our nation is refreshingly simple and deeply profound. This is the history book I needed as a teen."
—Renée Watson, New York Timesbestselling and Newbery Honor-winning author of Piecing Me Together

"Jason Reynolds has the amazing ability to make words jump off the page. Told with passion, precision, and even humor, Stamped is a true story-a living story-that everyone needs to know."—Steve Sheinkin, New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of Bomb and Born to Fly

"The R-word: Racism. Some tuck tail and run from it. Others say it's no longer a thing. But Dr. Kendi breaks it down, and Jason Reynolds makes it easy to understand. Mark my words: This book will change everything."—Nic Stone, bestselling author of Dear Martin

"If knowledge is power, this book will make you more powerful than you've ever been before."—Ibi Zoboi, author of the National Book Award finalist American Street

"Reading this compelling not-a-history book is like finding a field guide to American racism, allowing you to quickly identify racist ideas when you encounter them in the wild."
—Dashka Slater, author of The 57 Bus

"the must-read book of the moment...potent and provocative"—--San Francisco Chronicle

"Reynolds's engaging, clear prose shines a light on difficult and confusing subjects....This is no easy feat."—The New York Times Book Review

* "Readers who want to truly understand how deeply embedded racism is in the very fabric of the U.S., its history, and its systems will come away educated and enlightened. Worthy of inclusion in every home and in curricula and libraries everywhere. Impressive and much needed."
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

* "An epic feat... More than merely a young reader's adaptation of Kendi's landmark work, Stamped does a remarkable job of tying together disparate threads while briskly moving through its historical narrative."—Bookpage, starred review

Worth the read!

I have taught Stamped with adults in a PD setting and with students as a middle school teacher. This is a fun, accessible and easy to read book. This booked helped facilitate a myriad of, "Ah-ha!” moments with adults and adolescents alike.

My one critique is that it does not always give as much context as I would like, then again, the book was designed to be a primer—something to pique your interest. If you want something comprehensive and vast, Kendi’s original version, Stamped from the Beginning, is a great read.

This book is a very soft entry point to the conversation on race and racism in the U.S. It does a great job of showing patterns in U.S. history around race and racism. Jason Reynolds does such a fantastic job reading this text. Every time I listen to the audio book (We listen as we read along), I enjoy his performance.

I have seen some comments on here about this book being one-sided or biased—that it points out that all white people were/are bad. This is absolutely false. Not only does he talk about white allies from the Mennonites to LBJ (As being anti-racist or helping facilitate anti-racist ideas or policy), he shows multiple examples of racists who are African or African American. He looks at the fact that even leaders in the African American community struggled with assimilationist ideas and at times were at odds with other African Americans. Both Kendi and Reynolds are aware that racism and racist ideas took no prisoners. Your race does not inoculate you from the harm and influence of racism and racist ideas. As far as it being democratic propaganda? This book shows Clinton in the same light as Nixon, Reagan and Bush. Sometimes the truth is not always a flattering outfit.

Let’s be clear, this is a book about racism in the U.S. We cannot change history. Racism happened and is still part of the American experience. Racism and racist ideas were carefully cultivated and curated over the course of several centuries in Europe and North America. Black people did not create redlining, lynch black soldiers, in their uniforms, returning from war or write Jim Crow laws. White Americans did this. Reynolds/Kendi are, very clearly, writing about racist actions and the people who carried them out. Should they have hid this truth?

Nonetheless, I cannot think of a more reader friendly, compassionate, engaging and welcoming entry point to the difficult conversation around racism in the U.S.

Riveting

Jason Reynolds is not only an incisive writer, he is also a riveting speaker. The book moves at a quick pace so that you learn so much in a condensed "non-history" (as he keeps saying!) way. This is aimed at young adults, for it covers the history of oppression that many younger people were not as directly exposed to, but it is a good "primer" for adults as well. Also, very important for people to understand the difference between "not being racist" and "ant-racist."

Inspiring

I listened to this book for a school essay before knowing anything about the author or story. This book was eye opening and gave me real answers regarding issues black people and people of color in the U.S continue to face. I hope to learn more about black history to do my part in shutting down racism.

Amazing !

This was absolutely amazing. As, young African American women it inspired me and reminded me of the much needed work that needs to be done in this world.

Eye opening

I highly recommend this book to all people- especially white people like me who didn’t and don’t understand our own racism and our racist history in the US. I learned more about how whites have rewritten history and look back on my own perceptions of the history that I’ve lived through and the lens, the white lens through which I viewed it. Makes me hungry to learn more...and to speak up more. We whites have much to learn. Grateful.