This book is an act of generosity — generosity of spirit and scholarship — and it deserves a spot on the shelf of every library, every social science and humanities classroom, every armchair historian's end table, and every American citizen committed to listening to Black voices.

"Four Hundred Souls" is a "choral work," a "communal history." Those phrases may not be familiar but they mean exactly what they say — it's a chronological, historical account from a chorus of community voices. Four hundred years of African American history, from 1619 to 2019, is covered by ninety of America's leading Black writers (scholars, journalists, poets, and more), with each writer taking a five-year period and exploring a relevant topic (person, story, idea, etc.). These essays are elegantly grouped into ten sections that each cover forty years and are each closed with a poem. Because of this communal spirit, this choral organization, what seems like a hefty tome doesn't have to be a heavy lift at all when you're reading it. Dip in for as much or as little as you're able to digest at a time. The audiobook is also excellent, providing another dimension to these voices.

Can't recommend highly enough.