Thick: And Other Essays by Tressie McMillan Cottom Summary
Overview of Thick: And Other Essays
In "Thick," MacArthur Fellow Tressie McMillan Cottom dissects black womanhood, beauty standards, and capitalism with razor-sharp intellect. A National Book Award finalist praised by Trevor Noah and Rebecca Traister as "among America's most bracing thinkers on race, gender, and capitalism."
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The Thickness of Being: When Your Existence Defies Categories
What does it mean to be "too much" in a world designed for your absence? Standing in Rudean's-a Charlotte fish joint where Black folks gathered to eat, drink, and maybe dance-a stranger told me: "Your hair thick, your nose thick, your lips thick, all of you just thick." This wasn't a pickup line. It was an observation that captured my lifelong experience of being too much of one thing and never enough of another. Throughout graduate school, editors called my writing too readable for academia, too deep for popular consumption, too country Black for literary circles. A senior Black woman scholar warned me to stop writing so much: "They're just using you." I was breaking unspoken rules about who gets to claim intellectual authority. Black women often work endlessly-for churches, families, politics, survival-but I was working the wrong way for someone who didn't want to become a "problem." Born pigeon-toed and bow-legged, I grew up hearing "fix your feet" alongside "work twice as hard." This physical adaptation became metaphor: I learned to shoehorn political analysis into personal essays, the only genre typically afforded Black women writers. Legacy media profited more from our personal narratives than we ever did. But my work isn't simply memoir-it's "thick description," interrogating why my crossword-genius grandmother died poor in a one-bedroom apartment while I became a professor. May these essays spark a gold rush for Black women writers so thick with humanity that no sister has to fix her feet to walk this world again.
Beauty's True Function: Maintaining the Social Order
The Deadly Myth of Competence: Black Women and Healthcare
Knowing Your Whites: The Elasticity of Dominance
When Black Is Never "Just Black": The Politics of Categorization
The Calculus of Survival: Status Symbols and Respectability Politics
Reclaiming Thickness: The Work Ahead
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"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
From Columbia University alumni built in San Francisco
"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."
"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."
"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."
"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."
"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."
"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."
"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."
"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."
"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"
"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."
"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."
"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."
"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."
"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."
"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."
"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."
"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."
"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"
"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
"Instead of endless scrolling, I just hit play on BeFreed. It saves me so much time."
"I never knew where to start with nonfiction—BeFreed’s book lists turned into podcasts gave me a clear path."
"Perfect balance between learning and entertainment. Finished ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ on my commute this week."
"Crazy how much I learned while walking the dog. BeFreed = small habits → big gains."
"Reading used to feel like a chore. Now it’s just part of my lifestyle."
"Feels effortless compared to reading. I’ve finished 6 books this month already."
"BeFreed turned my guilty doomscrolling into something that feels productive and inspiring."
"BeFreed turned my commute into learning time. 20-min podcasts are perfect for finishing books I never had time for."
"BeFreed replaced my podcast queue. Imagine Spotify for books — that’s it. 🙌"
"It is great for me to learn something from the book without reading it."
"The themed book list podcasts help me connect ideas across authors—like a guided audio journey."
"Makes me feel smarter every time before going to work"
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