Short Synopsis
In essay, image, and poetry, Citizen is a powerful testament to the individual and collective effects of racism in our contemporary, often named "post-race" society.

Full Synopsis
Claudia Rankine's bold new book recounts mounting racial aggressions in ongoing encounters in twenty-first-century daily life and in the media. Some of these encounters are slights, seeming slips of the tongue, and some are intentional offensives in the classroom, at the supermarket, at home, on the tennis court with Serena Williams and the soccer field with Zinedine Zidane, online, on TV—everywhere, all the time. The accumulative stresses come to bear on a person's ability to speak, perform, and stay alive. Our addressability is tied to the state of our belonging, Rankine argues, as are our assumptions and expectations of citizenship.

"Johnson's measured drama and impassioned dialogue interpretations rivet the listener's attention and awaken sensitivity to the racism that still exists in both public and private arenas." ---AudioFile

"Combining poetry, essay, and images from media and contemporary art, Rankine's poetics capture the urgency of her subject matter." ---Publishers Weekly Starred Review

"Frequently powerful, occasionally opaque." ---Kirkus

"Narrator Allyson Johnson reads the prose with a lilting voice during some parts and a harsh, angry tone during others to match the situation." ---Library Journal Audio Review

"Rankine’s arrestingly forthright, emotionally authentic, and artistically lithe inquiry induces us to question and protest every racial assault against our individual and collective humanity." ---Booklist

Bestseller

New York Times Bestseller

AudioFile Earphones Award Winner

National Book Critics Circle Bestseller

National Book Critics Award Winner

Publishers Weekly Review