An extraordinary comingofage story adapted from the adult memoir by the 1 New York Times bestselling author of The Water Dancer and Between the World and MeTaNehisi Coates is the young James Joyce of the hiphop generation Walter MosleyThis was the abyss where unguided black boys were swallowed whole only to reemerge on corners and prison tiersTaNehisi Coates grew up in the tumultuous 1980s in Baltimore known back then as the murder capital of the United States.With seven siblings four mothers and one highly unconventional father Paul Coates a largerthanlife Vietnam Vet Black Panther TaNehisis coming of age story is gripping and lays bare the troubled often violent life of the innercity and the authors experience as a young black person in itWith candor TaNehisi Coates details the challenges on the streets and within ones family especially the eternal struggle for peace between a father and son and the important role family plays in such circumstances.