Guidebook to Relative Strangers: Journeys Into Race, Motherhood, and History
As a working mother whose livelihood as a poet-lecturer depended on travel, Camille Dungy crisscrossed America with her infant, then toddler, intensely aware of how they are seen, not just as mother and child, but as black women. With a poet's eye, she celebrates her daughter's acquisition of language and discoveries of the natural and human world around her. At the same time history shadows her steps everywhere she goes: from the San Francisco of settlers' and investors' dreams to the slave-trading ports of Ghana; from snow-white Maine to a festive, yet threatening, bonfire in the Virginia pinewoods.
With exceptional candor and grace, Dungy explores our inner and outer worlds--the intimate and vulnerable experiences of raising a child, living with illness, conversing with strangers, and counting on others' goodwill. Across the nation, she finds fear and trauma, and also mercy, kindness, and community. Penetrating and generous, Guidebook to Relative Strangers is an essential guide for a troubled land.
Earn by promoting books
Earn money by sharing your favorite books through our Affiliate program.
Become an affiliateCalm, lucid, and sturdy, Dungy's account stares down the effects and unevenly distributed burdens of our shared past and present with clear eyes, full heart, and the kind of dedication to fact, feeling, and history that we truly need now, as ever.--Maggie Nelson, author of The Argonauts
In stirring and insightful prose, the wonder of our shared journey is spelled out on these pages. The music from Dungy's pen is as intimate as the blues and as epic as a symphony.--Tayari Jones, author of Silver Sparrow
Dungy's voice engages as a conversation with a dear friend might, with affection for the possibilities revealed in human relationships. These gorgeous essays are essential and deeply compelling.--Wendy S. Walters, author of Multiply/Divide
Some essay collections challenge your intellect, others break open your heart, a few grant a new way of seeing, and occasionally one sings a song you feel in your bones. It's rare that a collection hits all four notes, yet Camille T. Dungy's first collection of essays. . . does so with impressive range, ambition, and timeliness. . . . May all of us be as fearless and honest in our self-examination as Dungy is here, and may more essays challenge us to become compassionate, wide-awake humans--for ourselves, our children, and the strangers we encounter.--Cate Hodorowicz
Motherhood memoirs make up a robust though almost entirely white genre. Camille T. Dungy's evocative debut . . . meticulously parses the ways in which work, travel and creativity affect black motherhood, and in doing so provides a much needed perspective.--Anjali Enjeti
Part memoir, part travelogue, part parental guide, this book is a stunningly beautiful love letter from a mother to her daughter to help her daughter embrace the world she lives in, to introduce her to her ancestors, and prepare her for the future.--Edwidge Danticat, author of The Art of Death: Writing the Final Story