Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching (2016)
An unflinching account of what it means to be a young black man in America today, and how the existing script for black manhood is being rewritten in one of the most fascinating periods of American history.
"Ambitious, ardent and timely."―New York Times Book Review
"[An] audacious debut book...This is a must-read book for the generations."―Washington Post
"...a superbly thoughtful memoir."―Buzzfeed
"...wonderful...While Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching may not have the answers, its attempt to define the undefined something buzzing about blackness feels like catching lightning in a bottle."―Atlantic.com, Summer Reading Selection
"Here is the deeply thought accounting of the contemporary black experience by one of our foremost writers and thinkers. A scintillating, rewarding read."―The Root
"[Mychal Denzel Smith] provides perspective into the complexity of blackness that's commonly lost in discussions about race...this memoir is both groundbreaking and saddening. It might be the first of its kind: a book that offers a comprehensive look into the genesis of black millennial lives through the eyes of a young black man."―Chicago Tribune
“Decades ago, Toni Cade Bambara wrote, ‘The purpose of a writer is to make revolution irresistible.' Mychal Denzel Smith, in addition to crafting a genius piece of art that swims through politics and prose, has created one of the first books of my lifetime that makes structural and interpersonal revolution irresistible. Unlike many 20th and 21st century memoirs written by black men, Smith convinces readers that any conversation or movement towards black liberation that doesn't also reckon with heteropatriarchy is brittle at best, and likely destructive. Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching is the first book of my life that I need to read with my mother, my grandmother and my children. Mychal Denzel Smith has done it. He has written a potential revolution.”
—Kiese Laymon, author of How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America
