I Just Keep Talking: A Life in Essays Audiobook

Quotes

• Nell Irvin Painter is an historian, a journalist, and a visual artist. Whatever her subject—race, gender, class, art, politics—she finds the surprising complication; ponders the unresolved question. Race, she writes, is 'an ongoing discourse.' So is this vibrant, compelling book.

  — Margo Jefferson, National Book Critics Circle Award Winner and author of Constructing a Nervous System

• Nell Painter is one of the most important, influential and prolific historians of the United States… I Just Keep Talking is a gorgeously written journey through her life from her birth as a daughter of the great migration, to her retirement from academe and beyond. . .readers will learn a great deal about the country and just as much about how to craft a life of purpose and joy.

  — Imani Perry, National Book Award-winning author of South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation

• Consistently brilliant, restlessly curious and profoundly empathetic, Nell Irvin Painter's voice is simply indispensable. This decades-spanning collection pulls together some of her most elegant, engaged and urgent work. With a historian's sense of context and a poet's gift of language she lays bare truths we've collectively ignored and points us toward the democratic possibilities we have yet to realize.

  — Jelani Cobb, dean of the Columbia Journalism School and author of The Substance of Hope: Barack Obama and the Paradox of Progress.

• Nell Painter has never minced words. Here, as she puts it, she keeps talking—in essays and artwork ranging from the 1980s to our own fraught moment, in explorations of Blackness and Whiteness, of the past and the present, of the verbal and the visual. This is a book filled with four decades of insights from one of America's most important historians. We all need to listen—and to see.

  — Drew Gilpin Faust, author of Necessary Trouble and former president of Harvard University

• "Give thanks that Nell Irvin Painter won't stop talking—and thinking and writing and bringing the truth. And give thanks for these sage words on art, on history, on Blackness, on America, on survival from this bone-strong woman who keeps on keeping on, in glorious insistence.

  — Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

• "I Just Keep Talking reads like an intellectual adventure story. Nell Irvin Painter moves from Oakland to Ghana, Harvard, Princeton, and—late in the game—art school, grappling with subjects ranging from Southern-plantation gender relations and Ralph Waldo Emerson's Viking obsession to the founding of MOMA and the real meaning of MAGA. She writes that readers may be 'amused' by her book's title, and what it suggests about her persistence; just as likely, it will leave them wanting to hear more.

  — Amy Davidson Sorkin

• One of Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2024 • One of Electric Lit's 75 Books by Women of Color To Read in 2024

• As a graduate student at Princeton, I had the blessing to witness and experience Nell Irvin Painter’s genius and courage up close. With I Just Keep Talking, readers get to experience the full arc of that brilliance and fearlessness on the page. She stands as one of the country’s towering historians. But, more importantly, with this book Nell Irvin Painter models how to be fully oneself in a world hell-bent on the easy comforts of generalities.

  — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., New York Times bestselling author of Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own

• "I Just Keep Talking reads like an intellectual adventure story. Nell Irvin Painter moves from Oakland to Ghana, Harvard, Princeton, and—late in the game—art school, grappling with subjects ranging from Southern-plantation gender relations and Ralph Waldo Emerson's Viking obsession to the founding of MOMA and the real meaning of MAGA. She writes that readers may be 'amused' by her book's title, and what it suggests about her persistence; just as likely, it will leave them wanting to hear more.

  — Amy Davidson SorkinAs a graduate student at Princeton, I had the blessing to witness and experience Nell Irvin Painter’s genius and courage up close. With I Just Keep Talking, readers get to experience the full arc of that brilliance and fearlessness on the page. She stands as one of the country’s towering historians. But, more importantly, with this book Nell Irvin Painter models how to be fully oneself in a world hell-bent on the easy comforts of generalities. —Eddie S. Glaude Jr., New York Times bestselling author of Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own

• "Give thanks that Nell Irvin Painter won't stop talking—and thinking and writing and bringing the truth. And give thanks for these sage words on art, on history, on Blackness, on America, on survival from this bone-strong woman who keeps on keeping on, in glorious insistence.

  — Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

• Nell Irvin Painter is one of the towering Black intellects of the last half century, and this wonderfully fertile collection invites us to bear witness to one of the cardinal truths about our past, which she has taught, visualized, and embodied throughout her career—that Black history is bursting with creativity. I Keep Talking gives us a gift by containing the multitudes of Painter’s many-colored palette. It is more than an odyssey for the senses; it’s a revelation that will inspire courage in anyone seeking to express their truth.

  — Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University

• "I Just Keep Talking reads like an intellectual adventure story. Nell Irvin Painter moves from Oakland to Ghana, Harvard, Princeton, and—late in the game—art school, grappling with subjects ranging from Southern-plantation gender relations and Ralph Waldo Emerson's Viking obsession to the founding of MOMA and the real meaning of MAGA. She writes that readers may be 'amused' by her book's title, and what it suggests about her persistence; just as likely, it will leave them wanting to hear more.

  — Amy Davidson Sorkin

• As a graduate student at Princeton, I had the blessing to witness and experience Nell Irvin Painter’s genius and courage up close. With I Just Keep Talking, readers get to experience the full arc of that brilliance and fearlessness on the page. She stands as one of the country’s towering historians. But, more importantly, with this book Nell Irvin Painter models how to be fully oneself in a world hell-bent on the easy comforts of generalities.

  — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., New York Times bestselling author of Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own

• Nell Irvin Painter is one of the towering Black intellects of the last half century, and this wonderfully fertile collection invites us to bear witness to one of the cardinal truths about our past, which she has taught, visualized, and embodied throughout her career—that Black history is bursting with creativity. I Keep Talking gives us a gift by containing the multitudes of Painter’s many-colored palette. It is more than an odyssey for the senses; it’s a revelation that will inspire courage in anyone seeking to express their truth.

  — Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University

• Painter. . . gathers more than 40 previously published essays, framed by a new introduction and coda, reflecting her shrewd analyses of issues including race, class, and gender; history and historiography; police brutality and poverty; art, education, and politics. . . A vibrant, insightful collection from an indispensable voice.

  — Kirkus Reviews, *starred review*

• Razor-sharp analysis lights up every page, and the bountiful images of multimedia artwork by Painter add a personal touch. This affirms Painter’s reputation as a historian and political commentator par excellence.

  — Publisher’s Weekly *starred review*

• Nell Painter is one of the most important and versatile American historians of the last half century. This stunning array of essays…contains a potent autobiographical sizzle from introduction to the end…Prolific, provocative, and with a voice all her own, Painter reveals with admirable vulnerability a mind in transit through time.

  — David W. Blight, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom

• Razor-sharp analysis lights up every page…[I Just Keep Talking] affirms Painter’s reputation as a historian and political commentator par excellence.

  — Publisher’s Weekly *starred review*

• Painter. . . gathers more than 40 previously published essays, framed by a new introduction and coda, reflecting her shrewd analyses of issues including race, class, and gender; history and historiography; police brutality and poverty; art, education, and politics. . . A vibrant, insightful collection from an indispensable voice.

  — Kirkus Reviews, *starred review*

• Nell Irvin Painter is one of the towering Black intellects of the last half century…[I Just Keep Talking] is more than an odyssey for the senses; it’s a revelation that will inspire courage in anyone seeking to express their truth.

  — Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University

• Whatever her subject—race, gender, class, art, politics—[Painter] finds the surprising complication. . .A vibrant, compelling book.

  — Margo Jefferson, National Book Critics Circle Award Winner and author of Constructing a Nervous System

• Nell Painter is one of the most important, influential and prolific historians of the United States…readers will learn a great deal about the country and just as much about how to craft a life of purpose and joy.

  — Imani Perry, National Book Award-winning author of South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation

• Consistently brilliant, restlessly curious and profoundly empathetic, Nell Irvin Painter's voice is simply indispensable…With a historian's sense of context and a poet's gift of language she lays bare truths we've collectively ignored and points us toward the democratic possibilities we have yet to realize.

  — Jelani Cobb, dean of the Columbia Journalism School and author of The Substance of Hope: Barack Obama and the Paradox of Progress.

• Nell Painter has never minced words. Here, as she puts it, she keeps talking—in essays and artwork ranging from the 1980s to our own fraught moment, in explorations of Blackness and Whiteness, of the past and the present, of the verbal and the visual…one of America's most important historians.

  — Drew Gilpin Faust, author of Necessary Trouble and former president of Harvard University

• “Give thanks that Nell Irvin Painter won't stop talking—and thinking and writing and bringing the truth. And give thanks for these sage words on art, on history, on Blackness, on America, on survival from this bone-strong woman who keeps on keeping on, in glorious insistence.

  — Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois“I Just Keep Talking reads like an intellectual adventure story…[Painter] writes that readers may be 'amused' by her book's title, and what it suggests about her persistence; just as likely, it will leave them wanting to hear more.

• Nell Irvin Painter is one of the towering Black intellects of the last half century…[I Just Keep Talking] is more than an odyssey for the senses; it’s a revelation that will inspire courage in anyone seeking to express their truth.

  — Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University

• Painter. . . gathers more than 40 previously published essays, framed by a new introduction and coda, reflecting her shrewd analyses of issues including race, class, and gender; history and historiography; police brutality and poverty; art, education, and politics. . . A vibrant, insightful collection from an indispensable voice.

  — Kirkus Reviews, *starred review*

• Whatever her subject—race, gender, class, art, politics—[Painter] finds the surprising complication. . .A vibrant, compelling book.

  — Margo Jefferson, National Book Critics Circle Award Winner and author of Constructing a Nervous System

• “Give thanks that Nell Irvin Painter won't stop talking—and thinking and writing and bringing the truth. And give thanks for these sage words on art, on history, on Blackness, on America, on survival from this bone-strong woman who keeps on keeping on, in glorious insistence.

  — Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, author of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

• For the past five decades, acclaimed writer, artist, historian, and critic Nell Irvin Painter’s work has felt ahead of its time….This insightful anthology shows why Painter, now 81 years old, is still one of the most important voices in America.

  — Time Magazine“I Just Keep Talking reads like an intellectual adventure story…[Painter] writes that readers may be 'amused' by her book's title, and what it suggests about her persistence; just as likely, it will leave them wanting to hear more.

• I Just Keep Talking once again proves Nell Irvin Painter's brilliant and beautiful mind. I just keep reading and being astounded but not surprised.

  — Jacqueline Woodson, National Book Award finalist and author of Red at the Bone

• The essays in I Just Keep Talking show [Painter] repeatedly drawing attention to a plurality of Black American experiences. . .incisive. . .candid. . .full of surprises.

  — Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times Book Review