Praise for Backtalker
“A beautifully written, compelling and insightful memoir from the extraordinary intellectual, activist and scholar who has shaped critical discourse in America. A moving and powerful read.”
—Bryan Stevenson
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“Kimberlé Crenshaw is one of America’s most original legal thinkers, a pioneering theorist whose scholarship has transformed the way we think about race, gender, and the law. Now in Backtalker, her powerful new memoir, she reminds us of the greatest teacher of all: experience. Here is a compelling account of the making not only of a visionary mind on the front lines of change, but of the ‘we’ that binds us to one another in families, communities, and in the nation as a whole.”
—Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University
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“A searing, defiant and deeply inspiring memoir for our times from one of America's greatest architects of justice.”
—V (formerly Eve Ensler)
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“It is rare that creators of movements that shake the world use the memoir form to honestly and precisely explore how their will to change was created. Kimberlé Crenshaw has made a fleshy piece of theory, a foundational book for this nation, a moving memoir that will continue to build on the monumental work Crenshaw has already done. We will thankfully be feeling the work of this book for generations.”
—Kiese Laymon
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“Her ideas have shaped generations of thinkers and activists globally. Now, with Backtalker, we come to understand the people and contexts that have given shape to Kimberlé Crenshaw, her values and her sensibilities. This in-depth self-portrait reveals a woman of great depth, courage, and conviction—a truth teller and justice seeker. It is a tale as unique and compelling as its author, a much needed story for our times and beyond.”
—Farah Jasmine Griffin
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"With the basic and forever justice of a child saying, ‘It's not fair!’ Kimberle Crenshaw writes the book we wish we could write.”
—Gloria Steinem
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Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theorizations of intersectionality, critical race theory, and Black feminism have served for decades as indispensable tools in struggles for social justice in the US and around the world. In this remarkably moving, engaging, absorbing, and inspiring memoir of her extraordinary life, Crenshaw reveals how the advanced theoretical frameworks she created emerged organically from her experiences with the quotidian conditions of life as a Black woman, from the callousness and cruelties of sexism and racism, but also from the collective courage, consciousness, and creativity of Black people determined to refuse unlivable destinies. Backtalker establishes once again Crenshaw’s astute understanding of the urgent need for a feminism that is resolutely anti-racist and for an anti-racism that is uncompromisingly feminist.
—George Lipsitz, author of Ethnic Studies at the Crossroads
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Kimberlé Crenshaw’s memoir, Backtalker, is a must-read because of all the ways it makes visible the extraordinary life of one of our most pioneering and influential scholar-activists. Candid, moving, informative and provocative, her reflections bear witness to some of the most important historical sagas of the past decades. It is also a stunning portrait of one of our most influential Black feminist theorists.
—Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Anna Julia Cooper Professor of Comparative Women’s Studies at Spelman Collefe and author of BLACK..FEMINIST..FREE
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“In these troubling days, we need examples of courageous voices, of people who lead lives of conviction and purpose. Kimberle Crenshaw's amazing memoir gives us just that. What a powerful witness! A must read!”
—Eddie S. Glaude Jr., author of America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation's Anniversaries
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“How does one find their voice—then use it to not only challenge systems of exclusion but also to articulate some of the era's most influential ideas? How does one blend memoir, social critique, and intellectual history in a compelling coming-of-age narrative? How does a Black girl born in Canton, Ohio become one of the foundational thought leaders of our time? Reading Balktalker by Kimberlé Crenshaw answers these questions.”
—Paula J. Giddings, author of A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching
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