One of TIME's 100 Must Read Books of 2020 and one of Good Housekeeping's Best Books of the Year

"One of the smartest young writers of her generation."--Book Riot

From New York Times bestselling author of This Will Be My Undoing Morgan Jerkins, a powerful story of her journey to understand her northern and southern roots, the Great Migration, and the displacement of black people across America.

Between 1916 and 1970, six million black Americans left their rural homes in the South for jobs in cities in the North, West, and Midwest in a movement known as The Great Migration. But while this event transformed the complexion of America and provided black people with new economic opportunities, it also disconnected them from their roots, their land, and their sense of identity, argues Morgan Jerkins. In this fascinating and deeply personal exploration, she recreates her ancestors' journeys across America, following the migratory routes they took from Georgia and South Carolina to Louisiana, Oklahoma, and California.

Following in their footsteps, Jerkins seeks to understand not only her own past, but the lineage of an entire group of people who have been displaced, disenfranchised, and disrespected throughout our history. Through interviews, photos, and hundreds of pages of transcription, Jerkins braids the loose threads of her family's oral histories, which she was able to trace back 300 years, with the insights and recollections of black people she met along the way--the tissue of black myths, customs, and blood that connect the bones of American history.

Incisive and illuminating, Wandering in Strange Lands is a timely and enthralling look at America's past and present, one family's legacy, and a young black woman's life, filtered through her sharp and curious eyes.

Author: Morgan Jerkins
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Harper
Published: 08/04/2020
Pages: 304
Weight: 1lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9780062873040


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 12/01/2019 pg. 59
Publishers Weekly 03/02/2020
Kirkus Reviews 03/01/2020
Booklist 04/01/2020 pg. 8
Library Journal 04/01/2020 pg. 114
Shelf Awareness 08/14/2020

About the Author
Jerkins, Morgan: -

Morgan Jerkins is the author of Wandering in Strange Lands and the New York Times bestseller This Will Be My Undoing and a Senior Culture Editor at ESPN's The Undefeated. Jerkins is a visiting professor at Columbia University and a Forbes 30 Under 30 leader in media, and her short-form work has been featured in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Elle, Esquire, and the Guardian, among many other outlets. She is based in Harlem.