While themes of resistance and struggle, of hope and reinvention, course through the book, this collection of diverse pieces from ninety different minds, reflecting ninety different perspectives, fundamentally deconstructs the idea that Africans in America are a monolith-instead it unlocks the startling range of experiences and ideas that have always existed within the community of Blackness. They approach history from various perspectives: through the eyes of towering historical icons or the untold stories of ordinary people through places, laws, and objects. The writers explore their periods through a variety of techniques: historical essays, short stories, personal vignettes, and fiery polemics. Blain, have assembled ninety brilliant writers, each of whom takes on a five-year period of that four-hundred-year span. It takes us to the present, when African Americans, descendants of those on the White Lion and a thousand other routes to this country, continue a journey defined by inhuman oppression, visionary struggles, stunning achievements, and millions of ordinary lives passing through extraordinary history.įour Hundred Souls is a unique one-volume “community” history of African Americans. The story begins in 1619-a year before the Mayflower -when the White Lion disgorges “some 20-and-odd Negroes” onto the shores of Virginia, inaugurating the African presence in what would become the United States. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist, and Keisha N. Bravo.ĪLSO IN BOOKPAGE: Go behind the scenes with the editors and producers of Four Hundred Souls, the year’s most astounding full-cast audiobook production.400 hundred SoulsA community History of African American 1619-2019Ī chorus of extraordinary voices comes together to tell one of history’s great epics: the four-hundred-year journey of African Americans from 1619 to the present-edited by Ibram X. Listeners will learn and be moved, and will no doubt listen more than once. Offering the best of education and entertainment, this epic audiobook enhances Kendi and Blain’s transformative history project through the sense of humanity that only a person’s voice can convey. The performances are straightforward or theatrical as appropriate, but they’re always engaging, and the variety of voices and styles sustains the listener’s attention.

Eighty-seven narrators comprise the full cast, including the authors of some of the essays and poems as well as other notable voices such as journalist Soledad O’Brien and actors Danai Gurira and Leslie Odom Jr.

The book is divided into five-year periods that span 400 years of the Black American experience, and the audiobook transitions between each section via layered, echoing voices for a haunting, emotional effect.

A heartfelt chorus of voices composes a well-researched community mosaic of Black American history in Ibram X.

Kendi 400 souls