Stakes Is High: Life After the American Dream

This book guides us past crisis mode and through an uncertain future. The past decade has forced us to confront our identity and beliefs about America: exceptionalism, inevitable rightness, and the promise of freedom through hard work. However, author Mychal Denzel Smith exposes the shortcomings of these stories and calls on us to live up to our professed principles.

In this group of essays, Smith exposes the stark contradictions in American life, holding us individually and as a nation accountable. The fissures and casual violence of institutional oppression are ever-present. Smith envisions a future that is not as grim as our past, helping us envision it with care, honesty, and imagination.

(This book may contain a sharpie mark on the top or bottom edge and may show mild signs of shelfwear.)