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The Thread
Emily Bright

The latest entry in a new wave of memoirs

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'What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker' by Damon Young
'What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker' by Damon Young
Courtesy of publisher

Every week, The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. This week, we spoke to Derrick Young of Mahogany Books in Washington, DC.

Bookseller Derrick Young says he loves recommending “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker” by Damon Young because Young’s fantastic sense of humor allows him to take on very heavy subject matter with levity.

The book covers toxic masculinity, racism and stereotypes that face Black men. Derrick says this memoir is part of a new wave of African-American men writing memoirs that are more vulnerable, like Ta-Nehisi Coates’ memoir “The Beautiful Struggle” and “Heavy” by Kiese Laymon.