What I’m Reading: “Losing My Cool” by Thomas Chatterton Williams
WIN AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF THIS BOOK!!! DEADLINE EXTENDED TO MONDAY, MAY 24, 2010 AT MIDNIGHT EST.
- VIA TWITTER– send me the following “losing my cool @affrodite” to enter
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- VIA AFFRODITE.NET- enter a comment in this very post
Thank you for supporting me and author Thomas Chatterton Williams by participating!
Congratulations to Simone who entered on Facebook and all who entered to win!
Publication Date: May 3, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-59420-263-6
Cost: $25.95 (hard cover)
Website: www.thomaschattertonwilliams.com
Facebook fan page: Thomas Chatterton Williams (must be logged in to join)
Twitter: twitter.com/iamchatterton
I just received a review copy of LOSING MY COOL. Take a look at the press release below for more information about author Thomas Chatterton Williams and his latest book. Do you like what you’ve read so far? I’ll be running a promotion soon where you can win your own autographed copy of LOSING MY COOL. Stay tuned for details in upcoming posts. The book tour kicks off on May 3, 2010 in New York City. Check out Williams’ website (link above) for the full tour schedule. ~Affrodite
PRESS RELEASE (source: The Penguin Press) — Like many young men in America, Thomas Chatterton Williams grew up in awe of Tupac Shakur, Biggie Smalls, and the parade of bling-bedecked rap stars he saw on Black Entertainment Television and MTV. Williams emulated their lifestyle- sporting chains, diamonds, and expensive designer clothes purchased for him by his girlfriends, who were themselves a little more than accessories for Williams. In public, Williams lived the street life exalted in his favorite rap anthems, yet at the end of the day he returned to a home literally crammed with thousands of books, each carefully studied and underlined by his father, “Pappy,” who revered learning and critical thinking above all else.
In “LOSING MY COOL: How a Father’s Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-Hop Culture” (The Penguin Press; May 3, 2010; $25.95), Williams recounts how he juggled these disparate lifestyles- “keeping it real” in his friends’ eyes while honing an appreciation for literature and learning under his father’s strict tutelage. Pappy grew up in the segregated South, where he hid in closets so he could read Aesop and Plato. He encouraged his own son to read and think deeply, and to embrace the opportunities that had not been available to his own generation.
In Williams’ teen years, the stakes of hip-hop lifestyle escalated and the gap between street life and home life became ever-wider. He was accepted to Georgetown University and as his old friends remained entrenched in the value system of hip-hop- which exalted money, hoes, and clothes- Williams looked beyond it for the first time. His college classmates introduced him to new things like wine, jazz, baguettes, and wanting to be the smartest person in the room. Williams realized he had more to gain from being open to these things, things that his friends from home wouldn’t consider “real,” than all the money his friends dreamed of earning as rap superstars.
Williams is among the first of his generation to measure the seductive power of hip-hop culture against its restrictive worldview, which ultimately leaves those who live it powerless. Like no book has before, LOSING MY COOL examines this culture, its appeal and its limitations, with the insight of a former devotee and the clarity of a scholar. It also recounts, with skill and grace, a burgeoning bond, forged in literature, between father and son.
About the Author
Thomas Chatterton Williams holds a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from Georgetown University and a Master’s degree from the Cultural Reporting and Criticism program at New York University. In 2007, he wrote an op-ed piece entitled “Yes, Blame Hip-Hop” for “The Washington Post” which generated a record-breaking number of comments. he writes for the literary magazine “n+1” and currently lives in Brooklyn.
