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Lessons for Survival: Mothering Against "The Apocalypse"

Lessons for Survival: Mothering Against "The Apocalypse"

by Emily Raboteau

Henry Holt and Co. ·2024 ·304 pages ·Criticism
Maybe Someday
Maybe Someday
I Index
48/99
Maybe Someday

46/99

Critics

Maybe Someday

49/99

Readers

n/a

Scholars

41/99

Rating

52/99

Volume

53/99

Rating

45/99

Volume

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About This Book

Award-winning author and critic Emily Raboteau uses the lens of motherhood to craft a powerfully moving meditation on race, climate, environmental justice―and what it takes to find shelter. Lessons for Survival is a probing series of pilgrimages from the perspective of a mother struggling to raise her children to thrive without coming undone in an era of turbulent intersecting crises. With camera in hand, Raboteau goes in search of birds, fluttering in the air or painted on buildings, and ways her children may safely play in city parks while avoiding pollution, pandemics, and the police. She ventures abroad to learn from Indigenous peoples, and in her own family and community discovers the most intimate meanings of resilience. Raboteau bears witness to the inner life of Black womenhood, motherhood, and to the brutalities and possibilities of cities, while celebrating the beauty and fragility of nature. This innovative work of reportage and autobiography stitches together multiple stories of protection, offering a profound sense of hope.


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Reviews

"She skillfully interweaves observations by friends, scholars and literary figures like Emily Dickinson and Toni Morrison with grim climate data and social science findings ..."

Tiya Miles· The New York Times Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"She and her husband are career professionals with options."

Arthur Hoyle· The New York Journal of Books Read review ↗ Near the Top

"Her urgent and thought-provoking book encourages readers to face the climate crisis and oppression courageously."

Rebecca Hopman· Booklist Read review ↗ Near the Top

"A thoughtful collection with an urgent message."

Kirkus Read review ↗ Near the Top

"A vivid and varied consideration of a world in crisis."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Near the Top

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