Brittney Cooper

NAMED A BEST/MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2018 BY: Glamour • Chicago Reader With searing honesty, intimacy and humor too, America’s leading young black feminist celebrates the power of rage. Melissa Harris Perry says: “I was waiting for an author who wouldn’t forget, ignore, or erase us black girls as they told their own story...I was waiting and she has come—in Brittney Cooper.” Michael Eric Dyson says: “Cooper may be the boldest young feminist writing today. Her critique is sharp, her love of Black people and Black culture is deep, and she will make you laugh out loud.” Rebecca Traister says: "Brittney Cooper is a national treasure." Mychal Denzel Smith says: "Brittney Cooper is the Black Feminist Prophet we urgently need." So what if it’s true that Black women are mad as hell? They have the right to be. In the Black feminist tradition of Audre Lorde, Brittney Cooper reminds us that anger is a powerful source of energy that can give us the strength to keep on fighting. Far too often, Black women’s anger has been caricatured into an ugly and destructive force that threatens the civility and social fabric of American democracy. But Cooper shows us that there is more to the story than that. Black women’s eloquent rage is what makes Serena Williams such a powerful tennis player. It’s what makes Beyoncé’s girl power anthems resonate so hard. It’s what makes Michelle Obama an icon. Eloquent rage keeps us all honest and accountable. It reminds women that they don’t have to settle for less. When Cooper learned of her grandmother's eloquent rage about love, sex, and marriage in an epic and hilarious front-porch confrontation, her life was changed. And it took another intervention, this time staged by one of her homegirls, to turn Brittney into the fierce feminist she is today. In Brittney Cooper’s world, neither mean girls nor fuckboys ever win. But homegirls emerge as heroes. This book argues that ultimately feminism, friendship, and faith in one's own superpowers are all we really need to turn things right side up again.

A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower

Eloquent Rage

Emily Burns

Powerful, personal, political. I loved this book.

Abhimat Gautam

I learned a lot and collected a lot of highlights from this book. Many of Cooper’s perspectives, shaped by her life as a black, feminist woman, are those that are very much missing from my life. It was valuable to learn about this perspective, and seeing how she framed these into larger frameworks of social and racial justice. There were several truths that also made me deeply uncomfortable to learn and realize. But they have been important for me to learn as someone who has benefited from growing up as a cis, straight, man with light skin and financial security. It is important to learn about and to improve my behaviors from these perspectives.

Growing up as a brown person in America has also inevitably led to experiences that have been problematic or made me uncomfortable. It was interesting for me to realize some of the parallels Cooper’s experiences have had with mine, and learning about the broader social framework that these experiences fit in.

I liked this book. I learned a lot, and from a perspective that I largely lack in my own life.

Yoomi

Rachel

I happened to read this while Surviving R. Kelly was released and damn do they pair well. Brittney Cooper explains difficulties black women have in feminist circles and black advocates because both disregard black women. The essays are a mixture of her personal experiences and what she has learned through formal education and research.

Danielle Raymond 

NOW A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An Emma Watson "Our Shared Shelf" Selection for November/December 2018 • NAMED A BEST BOOK OF 2018/ MENTIONED BY: The New York Public Library • Mashable • The Atlantic • Bustle • The Root • Politico Magazine ("What the 2020 Candidates Are Reading This Summer") • NPR • Fast Company ("10 Best Books for Battling Your Sexist Workplace") • The Guardian ("Top 10 Books About Angry Women") Rebecca Solnit, The New Republic: "Funny, wrenching, pithy, and pointed." Roxane Gay: "I encourage you to check out Eloquent Rage out now." Joy Reid, Cosmopolitan: "A dissertation on black women’s pain and possibility." America Ferrera: "Razor sharp and hilarious. There is so much about her analysis that I relate to and grapple with on a daily basis as a Latina feminist." Damon Young: "Like watching the world’s best Baptist preacher but with sermons about intersectionality and Beyoncé instead of Ecclesiastes." Melissa Harris Perry: “I was waiting for an author who wouldn’t forget, ignore, or erase us black girls...I was waiting and she has come in Brittney Cooper.” Michael Eric Dyson: “Cooper may be the boldest young feminist writing today...and she will make you laugh out loud.” So what if it’s true that Black women are mad as hell? They have the right to be. In the Black feminist tradition of Audre Lorde, Brittney Cooper reminds us that anger is a powerful source of energy that can give us the strength to keep on fighting. Far too often, Black women’s anger has been caricatured into an ugly and destructive force that threatens the civility and social fabric of American democracy. But Cooper shows us that there is more to the story than that. Black women’s eloquent rage is what makes Serena Williams such a powerful tennis player. It’s what makes Beyoncé’s girl power anthems resonate so hard. It’s what makes Michelle Obama an icon. Eloquent rage keeps us all honest and accountable. It reminds women that they don’t have to settle for less. When Cooper learned of her grandmother's eloquent rage about love, sex, and marriage in an epic and hilarious front-porch confrontation, her life was changed. And it took another intervention, this time staged by one of her homegirls, to turn Brittney into the fierce feminist she is today. In Brittney Cooper’s world, neither mean girls nor fuckboys ever win. But homegirls emerge as heroes. This book argues that ultimately feminism, friendship, and faith in one's own superpowers are all we really need to turn things right side up again. A BEST/MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2018 BY: Glamour • Chicago Reader • Bustle • Autostraddle

Eloquent Rage A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower

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