How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America

New York Times Notable Book: A revised and expanded essay collection by the award-winning author of Heavy, a “singularly beautiful” literary voice (NPR).

Brilliant and uncompromising, piercing and funny, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America is essential reading. This new edition of Kiese Laymon’s first work of nonfiction looks inward, drawing heavily on the author’s and his family’s experiences, while simultaneously examining the world—Mississippi, the South, the United States—that has shaped their lives. With subjects that range from an interview with his mother to reflections on Ole Miss football, Outkast, and the labor of Black women, these thirteen insightful essays highlight Laymon’s profound love of language and his artful rendering of experience, demonstrating why he is “simply one of the most talented writers in America” (New YorkMagazine).

“By adding six rich new essays, deftly curating seven from the original book, and reworking the chronology, [Laymon has] made a once solid collection superb.” —The New York Times Book Review

“[A] profound work . . . Laymon brings vulnerability to each page, whether talking about the influence of OutKast and Southern hip-hop on his life, being told that he’s not like other Black people, or battling personal demons on the path to becoming a published writer . . . Moving and meditative, this reckoning on Blackness, manhood, and self adds to Laymon’s legacy as an influential writer.” —Library Journal (starred review)

“I first encountered Kiese Laymon’s writing when I read How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America. I was stunned into stillness.” —Roxane Gay, New York Times–bestselling author of Hunger