My Family and I

“In this intricate blend of personal history, poignant love story, and incisive social critique, Adam Gussow charts a path out of America’s stifling racial trap. My Family and I is a rousing invitation to see ourselves in one another and to summon the courage finally to forge the beloved community Dr. King envisioned—one sustained by hope, reciprocity, and the boundless possibility of our shared humanity. A must-read at a political moment when the colorblind ideal has been so cynically exploited.”

“My Family and I is a remarkable and thought-provoking book that offers an intimate exploration of race, identity, and the pursuit of beloved community in contemporary America. Gussow eloquently argues that the reification of so-called racial identities reflects long-standing divisions that we must acknowledge, do not need to maintain, and should arguably destroy.”

“In an America increasingly divided by the clash between those who seek power in the reductive, skin-deep world of identity politics and those who wish to remain within our greater humanity, Adam Gussow's My Family and I offers a powerful argument for the latter. Gussow’s refusal to betray his humanity for this nefarious ideology is what gives this book of his its enduring and enlightening power. Most of all, it gives us hope.”

“Gussow’s harrowing account of attending an anti-racist workshop is an edgy parable on the dangers of thinking in racial categories. He is a first-rate scholar whose earlier work probed racial wounds in the American past, but his stimulating new study lets us see that racial healing can be on the horizon in our society.”

“My Family and I: A Mississippi Memoir is an unflinchingly challenging, provocative book that demands nuanced, careful thought. As an Ashkenazi Jewish and Black woman, I am grateful for the challenge that Adam Gussow’s book provides, and for the ways in which I was forced to consider my own belief systems as I read. What a gift.”

“Adam Gussow’s quest to prove the possibility of a transracial beloved community takes him on a transformative odyssey from the streets and clubs of Harlem to Princeton to a revelatory life in contemporary Mississippi, playing and teaching the blues. More than a memoir, the lived experience of My Family and I boldly challenges racial orthodoxy at a critical moment in American history.”

“Adam Gussow has lived a full life, one filled with music and a search for meaning and harmony in a world rife with hierarchies, hatreds, and spiritual voids. His story tells us much about our country. It is brilliantly written, and reminds us that the search for the center of our humanity is a moral imperative that is not beyond our reach. I wish him success with this heartfelt and illuminating book.”

"One would struggle to find more trenchant analysis of race in America during this epoch in our experiment with democracy.... Gussow’s words ought to inspire nationwide conversation in 2025."