{"product_id":"racebook-a-personal-history-of-the-internet","title":"Racebook: A Personal History of the Internet","description":"\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eRacebook\u003c\/i\u003e: \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Poetic and insightful . . . This is a must-read.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eRacebook\u003c\/i\u003e's essays are filled with nostalgic gaming references, musings on the current state of the internet, social media follies, and a surprising amount of German. Onyebuchi uses his fascinating life story as the backbone for this book, and readers learn as much about his background as they do about how the internet has changed and grown. Recommended for readers who want to examine the internet as it was, is, and will be, and how one person's unique perspective can elucidate universal truths.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Wide-ranging . . . A trenchant essay collection about race and identity online . . . Onyebuchi's cultural vocabulary is impressive, weaving together references to, among others, Graham Greene, Nas, and Walter Mosley . . . this is a lively and astute read.\"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e--Kirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Beginning with the adulation of Black cosplayers seizing physical and intellectual properties long coded as white spaces, [Onyebuchi] writes a memoir that contemplates his life online . . . There is personal history throughout, but the essays are global reflections on internet culture more than traditional memoir. Onyebuchi captures several universal moments of a generation growing up online but pushes the narrative further to encompass how it intersected with his offline world.\"--\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Thought-provoking and eclectic cultural criticism . . . a feast of cultural references and a deeply considered analysis of who we are on the Internet and how race plays into the equation.\"--\u003cb\u003eCarol Caley, \u003ci\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"We are in the best, most absolute trouble, y'all, because Tochi Onyebuchi writes as well as he understands the internet, which means he writes as well as humans run from accountable desire. \u003ci\u003eRacebook\u003c\/i\u003e is absolutely singular in the history of book-making, and the love shown to Black folks and our internet here is as textured as anything Morrison made. We are in trouble, the best, most uprooting trouble, and I am thankful.\"\u003cb\u003e--Kiese Laymon, bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eLong Division\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eHeavy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A riotous history of the internet from a nostalgic fan and passionate critic. Tochi Onyebuchi knows that when you enter a world that turns friends into followers, and authenticity into performance, speaking the truth is the only way out. He does it beautifully in this memoir-in-essays, which looks at the pressure of data capitalism on our inner lives and future identities.\"\u003cb\u003e--Laila Lalami, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Dream Hotel\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Starkly original, provocative and brilliantly executed, \u003ci\u003eRacebook\u003c\/i\u003e warrants our undivided attention. Onyebuchi is a sage observer of this fractured moment and among the internet's keenest interlocutors.\"\u003cb\u003e--Jelani Cobb, author of \u003ci\u003eThree or More is a Riot\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e Staff Writer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A love letter to the broken internet: Onyebuchi's prose glitters and his insights cut in this smart tour through the key junctures at which the internet's terrible promise and peril revealed themselves.\"\u003cb\u003e--Cory Doctorow, author of \u003ci\u003eEnshittification\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eRed Team Blues\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"A masterful (auto)biography of imaginative labor in the digital age, spanning his own family histories, Pokémon Go, the Internet's capacity for psychic injury, Palestine, multiplayer videogames, virtual reality, blogs, global instability and the online social movements they've birthed, Tochi Onyebuchi reveals just how thin the veil is between the lives we live IRL and our online worlds. In eleven prodigious essays, \u003ci\u003eRacebook\u003c\/i\u003e returns us to those early years of the Internet, where everything seemed possible: community, belonging, ways to survive and thrive. Or as he writes, \"to take the Internet seriously, is to recognize the parts of it that don't hurt.\" An audit of the faces we project and the reflection the Internet draws of us, Onyebuchi offers a trenchant account of where we've been, alongside a roadmap of possibility for where we might go.\"\u003cb\u003e--Hafizah Augustus Geter, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Black Period\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Onyebuchi's insights into the consequences of the internet for both bad and good transcend race . . . don't read this book only for Onyebuchi's personal insights about the online world and race. Read it for a close-up look at one of today's most distinctive intellects wrestling with the internet and all its messy consequences.\"--\u003cb\u003ePreston Gralla, \u003ci\u003eArts Fuse\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for Tochi Onyebuchi: \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Onyebuchi's voice work is magnificent, sharp and whipping.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, on \u003ci\u003eRiot Baby\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Stunningly original, brutal, and electric. Onyebuchi's prose scorches.\"\u003cb\u003e--R. F. Kuang, on \u003ci\u003eRiot Baby\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Tochi Onyebuchi's searing prose is an emotional journey in every sentence.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eGizmodo \u003c\/i\u003eon \u003ci\u003eGoliath\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eTochi Onyebuchi\u003c\/b\u003e is the Hugo and NAACP Image Award finalist and author of \u003ci\u003eGoliath, Riot Baby\u003c\/i\u003e, the Beasts Made of Night series, and the War Girls series. He was the writer on Marvel Comics' \"Captain America: Symbol of Truth\" series (2022-2023) and the Black Panther Legends run (2021-2022). He was also part of the writing team behind Activision's \u003ci\u003eCall of Duty: Vanguard\u003c\/i\u003e. His nonfiction includes the book \u003ci\u003e(S)kinfolk\u003c\/i\u003e and has appeared in the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times, NPR\u003c\/i\u003e, and the \u003ci\u003eHarvard Journal of African American Public Policy\u003c\/i\u003e, among other places. He has earned degrees from Yale University, New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Columbia Law School, and the Paris Institute of Political Studies. He currently resides in Connecticut.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the author of Hugo and NAACP Image Award finalist \u003ci\u003eRiot Baby\u003c\/i\u003e, an original memoir in essays that interrogates how identities are shaped and informed in online spaces and how the relationship between race and the Internet has changed in his three decades online\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Tochi Onyebuchi realized that his acclaimed science fiction and fantasy storytelling career had been centrally preoccupied with race, it prompted him to consider his responsibilities as a Black writer in the Internet age. Excavating the Internet of the late 1990s and early 2000s, \u003ci\u003eRacebook \u003c\/i\u003eexplores how the writer and public intellectual Onyebuchi is today, was formed in that crucible.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeginning with the current moment when everything, including personal identity, is a matter of dispute, and tracing his online persona in reverse chronological order back to Web 1.0's promises of greater equality and a bright digital future, Onyebuchi deftly examines the evolution of internet culture and the ways that culture has shifted in the ensuing decades. From the ever-changing nature of personal writing and free expression, to gaming, manga, fandom, and virtual reality--Onyebuchi examines the internet alongside works of literature both classic and new, and asks if our vision for what is possible has really broadened. And given the inequities Black people are still subject to, on and off the page, does the Internet only amplify our failures of imagination?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA new, compelling investigation of race through the lens of the modern Internet age, and a profound intellectual journey in pursuit of community online, Onyebuchi argues for a liberation of the individual behind the code, ultimately asking \"Is this a race book or is it not? Is it either-or? Can it be both-and? Can I?\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/span\u003e 08\/01\/2025 pg. 81 (EAN 9780802166258, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e 08\/01\/2025 (EAN 9780802166258, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e 08\/15\/2025 (EAN 9780802166258, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e 08\/25\/2025 (EAN 9780802166258, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/span\u003e 10\/18\/2025 (EAN 9780802166258, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Onyebuchi, Tochi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Roxane Gay Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePub Date:\u003c\/b\u003e 2025-10-21\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC:\u003c\/b\u003e Literary Collections \/ African American \u0026amp; Black|Biography \u0026amp; Autobiography \/ Memoirs|Literary Collections \/ Essays|Biography \u0026amp; Autobiography \/ Science \u0026amp; Technology\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSubjects:\u003c\/b\u003e Minorities|Social aspects|Biographies|Essays|Authors, Black|Cyberspace|Internet|Informational works|Onyebuchi, Tochi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.8 lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780802166258\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eASIN:\u003c\/b\u003e -\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSKU:\u003c\/b\u003e SP-9780802166258\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Roxane Gay Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67735363617049,"sku":"SP-9780802166258","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0913\/0380\/5209\/files\/9780802166258_spiral.png?v=1791533170","url":"https:\/\/westbindery.com\/products\/racebook-a-personal-history-of-the-internet","provider":"West Bindery","version":"1.0","type":"link"}