AZ Dems Readers & Leaders Book Club

Our selection for May 20 is The Message, by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Nick Collins will lead this discussion.
Register for Zoom link: [https://secure.ngpvan.com/gQ0wuNMIIUCQlpDUDeLqwA2](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://secure.ngpvan.com/gQ0wuNMIIUCQlpDUDeLqwA2&sa=D&source=calendar&usd=2&usg=AOvVaw2ZfIZAePOF0vokmNrHLLIt)

Ta-Nehisi Coates originally set out to write a book about writing, in the tradition of Orwell’s classic “Politics and the English Language,” but found himself grappling with deeper questions about how our stories—our reporting and imaginative narratives and mythmaking—expose and distort our realities.
In the first of the book’s three intertwining essays, Coates, on his first trip to Africa, finds himself in two places at once: in Dakar, a modern city in Senegal, and in a mythic kingdom in his mind. Then he takes readers along with him to Columbia, South Carolina, where he reports on his own book’s banning, but also explores the larger backlash to the nation’s recent reckoning with history and the deeply rooted American mythology so visible in that city—a capital of the Confederacy with statues of segregationists looming over its public squares. Finally, in the book’s longest section, Coates travels to Palestine, where he sees with devastating clarity how easily we are misled by nationalist narratives, and the tragedy that lies in the clash between the stories we tell and the reality of life on the ground.
Written at a dramatic moment in American and global life, this work from one of the country’s most important writers is about the urgent need to untangle ourselves from the destructive myths that shape our world—and our own souls—and embrace the liberating power of even the most difficult truths.
Hosted by LD12 Dems, this is a book club for Democrats throughout the state who want to read and discuss relevant, thought-provoking books with other Democrats. They focus on books that encourage lively discussion and help us to better understand, protect and defend our democratic values. Meetings are virtual so that more people are able to attend, on the 3rd Tuesday of the month from 7 - 8:00pm

Please Note: You must register through VAN to receive a Zoom link. Joining the Meetup event alone is not enough. Please register here: [https://secure.ngpvan.com/gQ0wuNMIIUCQlpDUDeLqwA2](https://www.google.com/url?q=https://secure.ngpvan.com/gQ0wuNMIIUCQlpDUDeLqwA2&sa=D&source=calendar&usd=2&usg=AOvVaw2ZfIZAePOF0vokmNrHLLIt)