As part of our special Democracy Week, the Books & Books Literary Foundation is proud to present Eddie Glaude, Jr. presenting his important new book: We Are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For (Harvard University Press, $24.95). He will be in conversation with David Lawrence, Jr.
***Please note: This event will take place at the Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ at 3010 De Soto Blvd, Coral Gables, FL 33134. Each ticket admits up to two (2) guests into the venue and includes one (1) copy of WE ARE THE LEADERS WE HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR. Books will be handed out upon entry. Can't make the event? Order your copy here.
About the Book:
We are more than the circumstances of our lives, and what we do matters. In We Are
the Leaders We Have Been Looking For, one of the nation’s preeminent scholars and
a New York Times bestselling author, Eddie S. Glaude Jr., makes the case that the hard
work of becoming a better person should be a critical feature of Black politics. Through
virtuoso interpretations of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Ella Baker, Glaude
shows how ordinary people have the capacity to be the heroes that our democracy so
desperately requires, rather than outsourcing their needs to leaders who purportedly
represent them.
The book begins with Glaude’s unease with the Obama years. He felt then, and does
even more urgently now, that the excitement around the Obama presidency had become
a disciplining tool to narrow legitimate forms of Black political dissent. This narrowing
continues to undermine the well-being of Black communities. In response, Glaude guides us away from the Scylla of enthusiastic reliance on elected leaders and the Charybdis of full surrender to a belief in unchanging political structures. Glaude weaves anecdotes about his own evolving views on Black politics together with the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Dewey, Sheldon Wolin, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, and Ralph Ellison.
Narrated with passion and philosophical intensity, this book is a powerful reminder that if American democracy is to survive, we must build a better society that derives its strength from the pew, not the pulpit.
About the Author:
EDDIE S. GLAUDE JR. is the author of several books, including Democracy in Black
and the New York Times bestseller Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent
Lessons for Our Own, winner of the Harriet Beecher Stowe Book Prize. He frequently
appears in the media as an MSNBC contributor on programs like Morning Joe and
Deadline: White House. A native of Moss Point, Mississippi, Glaude is the James S.
McDonnell Distinguished University Professor at Princeton University
About the Moderator:
David Lawrence Jr. retired in 1999 as publisher of The Miami Herald to work in the area of early childhood development and readiness. He chairs The Children’s Movement of Florida, aimed at making children the state’s top priority for investment. In 2002 and 2008 he led successful campaigns for The Children’s Trust, a dedicated source of early intervention and prevention funding for children in Miami-Dade. An endowed chair in early childhood studies is established in his name at the University of Florida. His memoir, A Dedicated Life: Journalism, Justice and a Chance for Every Child, was published in 2018. In his memoir, David Lawrence chronicles what soon came to be a life mission: "that every child have a real chance to succeed".
