Thick

Tressie McMillan Cottom is an award-winning professor who brings her full self and voice to Thick, a collection of essays that blends the personal with the political. Deemed "thick where I should have been thin, more where I should have been less," McMillan Cottom refuses to shy away from rigorous, candid inquiry.

Across eight essays on beauty, media, money, and more, she examines how race, gender, and status shape everyday life. She probes subjects from Saturday Night Live, LinkedIn, and BBQ Becky to sexual violence, infant mortality, and Trump rallies, turning narrative moments into broader analysis.

Endorsements

Finalist for the 2019 National Book Award.

Named a notable book of 2019 by The New York Times Book Review, Chicago Tribune, Time, and The Guardian.

Featured by The Daily Show; NPR; PBS; CBC; Time; VIBE; Entertainment Weekly; Well-Read Black Girl; and Chris Hayes.

"Incisive, witty, and provocative essays" — Publishers Weekly

"Thick is sure to become a classic." — The New York Times Book Review

"Transforms narrative moments into analyses of whiteness, black misogyny, and status-signaling as means of survival for black women" — Los Angeles Review of Books

"Writing that is as deft as it is amusing" — Darnell L. Moore

"Transgressive, provocative, and brilliant" — Roxane Gay

"Painfully honest and gloriously affirming" — Dorothy Roberts

"A mirror to your soul and to that of America" — Dorothy Roberts