New York Times best-selling author Cornel West is one of
America’s most provocative and admired public intellectuals.
Whether in the classroom, the streets, the prisons, or the
church, Dr. West’s penetrating brilliance has been a bright
beacon shining through the darkness for decades. Yet, as he
points out in this new memoir, “I’ve never taken the time to
focus on the inner dynamics of the dark precincts of my
soul.” That is, until now. Brother West is like its author:
brilliant, unapologetic, full of passion yet cool. This
poignant memoir traces West’s transformation from a
schoolyard Robin Hood into a progressive cultural icon. From
his youthful investigation of the “death shudder” to why he
embraced his calling of teaching over preaching, from his
three marriages and his two precious children to his
near-fatal bout with prostate cancer, West illuminates what
it means to live as “an aspiring bluesman in a world of
ideas and a jazzman in the life of the mind.” Woven together
with the fibers of his lifelong commitment to the prophetic
Christian tradition that began in Sacramento’s Shiloh
Baptist Church, Brother West is a tale of a man courageous
enough to be fully human, living and loving out loud.