A review by kaileycool
Notes from No Man's Land: American Essays by Eula Biss

5.0

Read this for my Baldwin class. I don't agree with all of Biss' assertions, and I'm not sure she has the right to make some of them, but the exploration is provoking, which I think is the point. The metaphor of a treacherous "no man's land" where the very ground beneath you is deceptively unstable is a very apt way to describe this text, a fact that makes it clear the provocation is intentional. Her argument that guilt is the racial heritage of white Americans is certainly offensive to some, but I would agree with her even if I didn't have a natural predilection toward offensive women. There were several palpably uncomfortable moments in the class session dedicated to this book, and I think that's the point.