Uncensored: My Life and Uncomfortable Conversations at the Intersection of Black and White Americans

In this thought-provoking memoir, Wood, a fellow at the Wall Street Journal, writes about his troubled life growing up and controversial position as president of a college speaker series. Wood recalls his impoverished youth in Detroit with his emotionally troubled mother, who enrolled him in a series of private schools where he thrived academically but withered socially under his mother’s emotional abuse. Officials with Child Protective Services took Wood away as a teenager after several abuse allegations against his schizophrenic mother (who also had a gambling addiction), and returned him to his estranged father in Washington, D.C. He attended private school while living in a poor neighborhood, and in straddling two cultures, he came to realize the importance learning how to understand and engage with others, no matter their differences. He attended Williams College and became president of a student speaker series called Uncomfortable Learning that advocated free speech and open dialogue. Wood himself became a controversial figure on campus by inviting such speakers as antifeminist writer Suzanne Venker, National Review columnist John Derbyshire, and Bell Curve author Charles Murray. Wood’s thought-provoking memoir is a fierce call for honest intellectual debate and social interaction. [em](June) [/em]