Contents
Chapter 1: The "Black" Man's Tears (Pascal Bruckner)
Chapter 2: A Negro in Paris (Bernard Dadié)
Chapter 3: The Spirit of the Laws (Montesquieu)
Chapter 4: Murderous Identities (Amin Maalouf)
Chapter 5: Road to Europe (Ferdinand Oyono)
Chapter 6: How can one be Persian? (Montesquieu)
Chapter 7: The Foreign Student (Philippe Labro)
Chapter 8: Bound to Violence (Yambo Ouologuem)
Chapter 9: The Identity Card (Jean-Marc Adiaffi)
Chapter 10: Literature of the Stomach (Julien Gracq)
Chapter 11: Phantom Africa (Michel Leiris)
Chapter 12: The Suns of Independence (Ahmadou Kourouma)
Appendix

In The Tears of the Black Man, award-winning author Alain Mabanckou explores what it means to be black in the world today. Mabanckou confronts the long and entangled history of Africa, France, and the United States as it has been shaped by slavery, colonialism, and their legacy today. Without ignoring the injustices and prejudice still facing blacks, he distances himself from resentment and victimhood, arguing that focusing too intensely on the crimes of the past is limiting. Instead, it is time to ask: Now what? Embracing the challenges faced by ethnic minority communities today, The Tears of the Black Man looks to the future, choosing to believe that the history of Africa has yet to be written and seeking a path toward affirmation and reconciliation.

Alain Mabanckou is a Franco-Congolese author and Professor of French and Francophone Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. His novels include Blue White Red, African Psycho, Broken Glass, Memoirs of a Porcupine, Black Bazaar, Tomorrow I'll Be Twenty, The Lights of Pointe-Noire, and Black Moses. He is the recipient of numerous literary prizes, such as the Grand Prix Littéraire de l'Afrique noire, Prix Renaudot, Prix Georges Brassens, and the Grand Prix de Littérature Henri Gal from the Académie Française for his life's work.

Dominic Thomas is Madeleine L. Letessier Professor of French and Francophone Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. His books include Nation-Building, Propaganda, and Literature in Francophone Africa; Black France: Colonialism, Immigration, and Transnationalism; and Africa and France: Postcolonial Cultures, Migration, and Racism.