The Strangers: Five Extraordinary Black Men and the Worlds That Made Them

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Richly imaginative and powerfully empathetic, an intimate portrait of five remarkable Black men, and a meditation on race, estrangement and the search for home. In the western imagination, a Black man is always a stranger. Outsider, foreigner, intruder, alien. One who remains associated with their origins irrespective of how far they have travelled from them. One who is not an individual in their own right but the representative of a type. What kind of performance is required for a person to survive this condition And what happens beneath the mask In answer, Ekow Eshun conjures the voices of five very different men. Ira Aldridge- nineteenth century actor and playwright. Matthew Henson- polar explorer. Frantz Fanon- psychiatrist and political philosopher. Malcolm X- activist leader. Justin Fashanu- million-pound footballer. Each a trailblazer in his field. Each haunted by a sense of isolation and exile. Each reaching for a better future. Ekow Eshun tells their stories with breathtaking lyricism and empathy, capturing both the hostility and the beauty they experienced in the world. And he locates them within a wider landscape of Black art, culture, history and politics which stretches from Africa to Europe to North America and the Caribbean. As he moves through this landscape, he maps its thematic contours and fault lines, uncovering traces of the monstrous and the fantastic, of exile and escape, of conflict and vulnerability, and of the totemic central figure of the stranger.

Reviews

A generous gift . . .The author inhabits the perspective of five figures, from Malcolm X to footballer Justin Fashanu, in this lyrical account of their lives, a thrilling affront to the archives that exclude them . . . Each chapter is absorbing, no matter how much you already know about each person * Observer *
Mesmerising. A book of creative non-fiction centred on important Black historical figures... Ekow Eshun brings them beautifully, movingly to life * Times Literary Supplement (Books of the Year 2024) *
An extraordinary feat of empathy. Innovative [and] intimate... this book is an act of rapprochement rendered with great emotional intelligence and tenderness. Remarkable * Guardian *
One for the intellectually curious. Eshun mixes biography and imagination to craft essays based on the lives of five Black men from history. Interspersed with thoughts about the author's own experiences as a Black man, the stories cross generations, and form part of a wider narrative about race, culture and historical amnesia -- Lola Young * Observer (Books of the Year 2024) *
Ekow Eshun is a genius. He holds a torch where institutions have refused to look and helps us all to see through shadows to the magnificent strangers. His writings on the Black aesthetic are unsurpassed and my world is a better place because he is writing in it. This book will be referenced for years to come -- Lemn Sissay, author of 'My Name is Why'
This book is astounding. Told with a rigour and intimacy that only Ekow Eshun could conjure In a world where Blackness is synonymous with death, The Strangers portrays scenes of beauty, of fullness of just what it means to be alive' -- Caleb Azumah Nelson, author of 'Open Water'
Thrilling and ingenious, propulsive and genre-defying: The Strangers is an outstanding book. Ekow Eshun resurrects five pioneering figures, connecting them thematically to each other while constantly recalibrating the contexts around them, revealing wider global histories, cultures and patterns of power. Compelling and imaginatively expansive, this is something very special creative non-fiction that inspires, stirs and challenges the reader -- Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author of 'Girl, Woman, Other'
Beautiful, powerful and haunting, this book defies erasure with imagination and integrity -- Afua Hirsch, author of 'Brit(ish)'
Staggering. Outside of Baldwin himself, I cant think of a creative approach to critique that hit me as hard as this. The storytelling, the archival work, the erudition and research behind it, the capacity for invention (down to the use of dialogue), andone of my favourite aspects of this bookits singular, inventive use of form. Its rare to read a book thats so invigorating, intervening with freshness and new clarity in longstanding conversations; and that gives you such a striking new way of describing and seeing your own world. If this doesnt become a classic, then I dont know what ever could -- Jason Allen-Paisant, T. S. Eliot Prize-winning author of 'Self-Portrait as Othello'
The Strangers is diamantine multifaceted, sharp and exceptionally bright. I was captivated by its vivid depiction of these five Black lives -- Doireann N Ghrofa

Author Bio

Ekow Eshun is a writer, curator and broadcaster. He is author of the memoir Black Gold of the Sun, nominated for the Orwell Prize for its exploration of race and identity, and The Strangers, longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize. Hailed by the Guardian as 'a cultural polymath', he was the first Black editor of a major magazine in the UK and went on to become the first Black director of a leading British arts institution. He has created documentaries for BBC TV and radio and his writing appears in publications including the Guardian, The New York Times and Financial Times. Described by Vogue as 'the most inspired - and inspiring - curator in Britain', Ekow Eshun has curated critically acclaimed exhibitions internationally, working with venues including the Hayward Gallery and National Portrait Gallery in London, as well as museums and galleries in Asia, Africa and the United States. He is Chairman of the Fourth Plinth, overseeing Britain's foremost public art programme. He lives in London.