A beautifully readable reminder of how much of our urgent, collective history resounds in places all around us that have been hidden in plain sight. Clint Smith chips away at their disguise with lyricism and grace -- Afua Hirsch

By blending journalistic inquiry with historical insights and poetic descriptions, the author turns a complex and traumatic subject - racism and the legacy of slavery in America - into a beautiful, insightful and even enjoyable journey ? The Economics Best Books of 2021

'A beautifully readable reminder of how much of our urgent, collective history resounds in places all around us that have been hidden in plain sight' Afua Hirsch, author of Brit(ish)

Beginning in his hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads the reader on an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks - those that are honest about the past and those that are not - that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping a nation's collective history, and our own.

It's the story of Thomas Jefferson's plantation, where he wrote letters espousing the urgent need for liberty while enslaving more than four hundred people, the story of the maximum-security prison in Louisiana that is filled with Black men who work across the land for virtually no pay and the story of Blandford Cemetery, the final resting place of tens of thousands of Confederate soldiers.

Chosen by President Obama, the Economist, Time magazine and many more as a book of the year, How the Word is Passed is a deeply researched and transporting exploration of the legacy of slavery - crucially showing some of our most essential stories are hidden in plain sight.

'We need this book' Ibram X. Kendi

'An extraordinary contribution to the way we understand ourselves' The New York Times

'Vivid and visceral, making history present and real' NPR

'An intimate, active exploration of how we're still constructing and distorting our history' Washington Post

Clint Smith is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of the poetry collection Counting Descent. The book won the 2017 Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. He has received fellowships from New America, the Emerson Collective, the Art For Justice Fund, Cave Canem, and the National Science Foundation. His writing has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Poetry Magazine, The Paris Review and elsewhere. Born and raised in New Orleans, he received his B.A. in English from Davidson College and his Ph.D. in Education from Harvard University.