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The Grey Album

on the Blackness of Blackness
Apr 30, 2018lukasevansherman rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Poet/critic/writer/New Yorker poetry editor Kevin Young recently wrote a book called "Bunk," which was a wide-ranging, sharp, and engaging look at our current post-truth moment of alternate facts and fake news, while also situating it in the historical context of hoaxes, fakes, and cons, which he sees as American as baseball and blue jeans. His earlier book, "The Grey Album" is also wide-ranging and erudite, drawing from literature, music of all sorts, pop culture, poetry, film, and about a dozen other sources in its quest to locate and analyze blackness and black identity in American culture, both high and low. It takes its name from Danger Mouse's now legendary mash up of "The Black Album" and "The White Album," and like that album, Young's book performs a similar type of bringing together disparate elements with surprising results.