And It Begins Like This

This collection of essays reveals an impressive new voice, both poignant and observant. McQueen suggests loneliness is also the accomplishment of understanding how far away you can move from other people’s expectations. Her clarity rings brightly throughout these works of self-discovery and cultural re-connection.

-Wendy S. Walters

LaTanya McQueen writes with fierce eloquence about the legacies of family and America’s racial history. Balancing intimate investigation with intricate research, she traces the ways the past is bloodline to the present. Gripping, urgent, at times even shocking, this is a deeply important book, one I will be thinking about for a long time. McQueen is a writer- and a mind-to watch.

-Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich

LaTanya McQueen’s essays offer a bold examination of the weight history, both personal and societal, places on our present moment. And it Begins Like This is a book brave enough to challenge our accepted notions of the past to put black women in their rightful place, in the forefront of the ongoing struggle for dignity and equality. It’s a book that is both moving and absolutely necessary.

-Rion Scott