Virtual Event: Calvin Baker

Harvard Book Store's virtual event series welcomes writer CALVIN BAKER—author of the acclaimed novels Grace and Dominion—for a discussion of his latest book, A More Perfect Reunion: Race, Integration, and the Future of America.

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While payment is not required, we are suggesting a $3 contribution to support this author series, our staff, and the future of Harvard Book Store—a locally owned, independently run Cambridge institution. In addition, by purchasing a copy of A More Perfect Reunion on harvard.com, you support indie bookselling and the writing community during this difficult time.

About A More Perfect Reunion

Americans have prided ourselves on how far we've come from slavery, lynching, and legal segregation—measuring ourselves by incremental progress instead of by how far we have to go. But fifty years after the last meaningful effort toward civil rights, the US remains overwhelmingly segregated and unjust. Our current solutions—diversity, representation, and desegregation—are not enough.

As acclaimed writer Calvin Baker argues in this bracing, necessary book, we first need to envision a society no longer defined by the structures of race in order to create one. The only meaningful remedy is integration: the full self-determination and participation of all African-Americans, and all other oppressed groups, in every facet of national life. This is the deepest threat to the racial order and the real goal of civil rights.

At once a profound, masterful reading of US history from the colonial era forward and a trenchant critique of the obstacles in our current political and cultural moment, A More Perfect Reunion is also a call to action. As Baker reminds us, we live in a revolutionary democracy. We are one of the best-positioned generations in history to finish that revolution.

Praise for A More Perfect Reunion

"A rich, meditative account . . . Baker offers a wide-ranging and erudite analysis of U.S. history, politics, and culture . . . This powerful call to action resonates." —Publishers Weekly

"Scholarly yet accessible, this book is a wake-up call for a country that would rather celebrate how far we've come than focus on how far we still have to go to eradicate racism. Required reading for any American serious about dismantling systemic racism." —Kirkus (starred review)