$12.99 with 48 percent savings
Print List Price: $25.00

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Audiobook Price: $19.69

Save: $6.70 (34%)

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the authors

Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story Kindle Edition

4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 15,800 ratings

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAACP IMAGE AWARD WINNER • A dramatic expansion of a groundbreaking work of journalism, The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story offers a profoundly revealing vision of the American past and present.

“[A] groundbreaking compendium . . . bracing and urgent . . . This collection is an extraordinary update to an ongoing project of vital truth-telling.”—
Esquire
 
NOW AN EMMY-WINNING HULU ORIGINAL DOCUSERIES • FINALIST FOR THE KIRKUS PRIZE • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, NPR, Esquire, Marie Claire, Electric Lit, Ms. magazine, Kirkus Reviews, Booklist

In late August 1619, a ship arrived in the British colony of Virginia bearing a cargo of twenty to thirty people stolen from Africa. Their arrival led to the barbaric and unprecedented system of American chattel slavery that would last for the next 250 years. This is sometimes referred to as the country’s original sin, but it is more than that: It is the source of so much that still defines the United States.

The New York Times Magazine’s award-winning 1619 Project issue reframed our understanding of American history by placing slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative. This book substantially expands on that work, weaving together eighteen essays that explore the legacy of slavery in present-day America with thirty-six poems and works of fiction that illuminate key moments of oppression, struggle, and resistance. The essays show how the inheritance of 1619 reaches into every part of contemporary American society, from politics, music, diet, traffic, and citizenship to capitalism, religion, and our democracy itself.

This book that speaks directly to our current moment, contextualizing the systems of race and caste within which we operate today. It reveals long-glossed-over truths around our nation’s founding and construction—and the way that the legacy of slavery did not end with emancipation, but continues to shape contemporary American life.

Featuring contributions from:
Leslie Alexander • Michelle Alexander • Carol Anderson • Joshua Bennett • Reginald Dwayne Betts • Jamelle Bouie • Anthea Butler • Matthew Desmond • Rita Dove • Camille T. Dungy • Cornelius Eady • Eve L. Ewing • Nikky Finney • Vievee Francis • Yaa Gyasi • Forrest Hamer • Terrance Hayes • Kimberly Annece Henderson • Jeneen Interlandi • Honorée Fanonne Jeffers • Barry Jenkins • Tyehimba Jess • Martha S. Jones • Robert Jones, Jr. • A. Van Jordan • Ibram X. Kendi • Eddie Kendricks • Yusef Komunyakaa • Kevin M. Kruse • Kiese Laymon • Trymaine Lee • Jasmine Mans • Terry McMillan • Tiya Miles • Wesley Morris • Khalil Gibran Muhammad • Lynn Nottage • ZZ Packer • Gregory Pardlo • Darryl Pinckney • Claudia Rankine • Jason Reynolds • Dorothy Roberts • Sonia Sanchez • Tim Seibles • Evie Shockley • Clint Smith • Danez Smith • Patricia Smith • Tracy K. Smith • Bryan Stevenson • Nafissa Thompson-Spires • Natasha Trethewey • Linda Villarosa • Jesmyn Ward
Due to its large file size, this book may take longer to download

Great on Kindle
Great Experience. Great Value.
iphone with kindle app
Putting our best book forward
Each Great on Kindle book offers a great reading experience, at a better value than print to keep your wallet happy.

Explore your book, then jump right back to where you left off with Page Flip.

View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look.

Enjoy features only possible in digital – start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more.

Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration.

Get the free Kindle app: Link to the kindle app page Link to the kindle app page
Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. Learn more about Great on Kindle, available in select categories.
Popular Highlights in this book

From the Publisher

A dramatic expansion of the Pulitzer Prize-winning project from The New York Times Magazine;1619

18 essays exploring the legacy of slavery in present-day America;1619 project;US history

36 poems and works of fiction illuminating key moments of oppression, struggle, and resistance

Archival portrait photography of Black Americans curated by Kimberly Annece Henderson

Books from The 1619 Project

________________________________________________________________

The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story
The 1619 Project: Born on the Water
Customer Reviews
4.8 out of 5 stars 15,800
4.9 out of 5 stars 3,552
Price $20.46 $13.49
A dramatic expansion of a groundbreaking work of journalism, The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story offers a profoundly revealing vision of the American past and present. The 1619 Project’s picture book in verse chronicles the consequences of slavery and the history of Black resistance in the U.S., by Pulitzer Prize-winner Nikole Hannah-Jones, Newbery honor-winner Renée Watson, and illustrations by Nikkolas Smith

Editorial Reviews

Review

“[A] groundbreaking compendium . . . These bracing and urgent works, by multidisciplinary visionaries ranging from Barry Jenkins to Jesmyn Ward, build on the existing scholarship of The 1619 Project, exploring how the nation’s original sin continues to shape everything from our music to our food to our democracy. This collection is an extraordinary update to an ongoing project of vital truth-telling.”Esquire, Best Books of Fall 2021

“Hannah-Jones and colleagues consider a nation still wrestling with the outcomes of slavery, an incomplete Reconstruction, and a subsequent history of Jim Crow laws and current legal efforts to disenfranchise Black voters . . . Those readers open to fresh and startling interpretations of history will find this book a comprehensive education. A much-needed book that stakes a solid place in a battlefield of ideas over America’s past and present.”
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Powerful . . . Based on the landmark 1619 Project, this collection . . . expands on the groundbreaking work with added nuance and new contributions by poets like Tracy K. Smith, writers including Kiese Laymon, and historians such as Anthea Butler. . . . This work asks readers to deeply consider who is allowed to shape the collective memory. Like the magazine version of the 1619 Project, this invaluable book sets itself apart by reframing readers’ understanding of U.S. history, past and present.”
Library Journal (starred review)

“Pulitzer winner Hannah-Jones . . . and an impressive cast of historians, journalists, poets, novelists, and cultural critics deliver a sweeping study of the ‘unparalleled impact’ of African slavery on American society. . . . Stories and poems by Claudia Rankine, Terry McMillan, Darryl Pinckney, and others bring to vivid life historical moments. . . . The result is a bracing and vital reconsideration of American history.”
Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Readers will discover something new and redefining on every page as long-concealed incidents and individuals, causes and effects are brought to light by Hannah-Jones and seventeen other vital thinkers and clarion writers . . . each of whom sharpens our understanding of the dire influence of anti-Black racism on everything . . . and how Black Americans fighting for equality decade after decade have preserved our democracy. The revelations are horrific and empowering. . . . This visionary, meticulously produced, profound, and bedrock-shifting testament belongs in every library and on every reading list. . . . [An] invaluable and galvanizing history . . . revelatory.”
Booklist (starred review)

About the Author

The 1619 Project is an ongoing initiative from The New York Times Magazine that began in August 2019, the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of our national narrative. It is led by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, along with New York Times editor-in-chief Jake Silverstein and New York Times Magazine editors Ilena Silverman and Caitlin Roper.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08XYPW4G7
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ One World (November 16, 2021)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 16, 2021
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 26.0 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 539 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0593230590
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 15,800 ratings

About the authors

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
15,800 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers

Customers say

Customers find the book informative and scholarly, with well-written chapters on important topics. They describe it as an engaging read with gripping writing that is easy to understand. Readers appreciate the thought-provoking suggestions and consider it an important work that will change their lives for the better. However, opinions differ on the racism depicted in the book, some finding it methodical and systematic, while others express horror at the continuing hatred for minorities.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

381 customers mention "Information quality"360 positive21 negative

Customers find the book informative about the history of America and modern society. They appreciate the scholarly work that presents events in great detail, with much research into chronicles. The book covers many important topics, unpacking America's history in accordance with American law. Readers say it's an excellent history book on how America was built on enslaved labor.

"This book is the truth and nothing but the truth. Easy reading and well written with the sources. Congratulations on this stellar book!" Read more

"...As a whole, the essays are excellent, the fiction is very good, and the poetry is reasonable good. My primary focus is on the essays...." Read more

"...Academically crafted, the text unpacks America's history in accordance with American law with the addition of statements from a number of the country..." Read more

"Good research and this book should be in all schools and everyone library." Read more

272 customers mention "Readability"269 positive3 negative

Customers find the book engaging and informative. They describe it as a must-read that analyzes America's history. The book is considered monumental, a civics book worth owning, reading, and contemplating. Readers appreciate the arguments and autobiographies of this former slave and newspaper. Overall, they consider it a worthwhile read and well worth the search and money.

"...Congratulations on this stellar book!" Read more

"...A truly monumental book!" Read more

"...have been shorter and still gotten it's points across but it's worth reading. Would recommend." Read more

"An highly readable book on the unsung role of slavery in American history. An eye opener" Read more

160 customers mention "Writing quality"128 positive32 negative

Customers find the writing engaging and easy to read. They describe it as an essential literary experience for Americans to know the truth about the United States. The book includes essays, poems, and works of fiction. Readers appreciate that the writing is clear and well-researched.

"This book is the truth and nothing but the truth. Easy reading and well written with the sources. Congratulations on this stellar book!" Read more

"...Included are poems, photographs, and essays that argue, humanize, question and romanticize moments in Black American history...." Read more

"...1619 Project: A New Origin Story" is a well-researched and well-written eye-opener that should be part of any American History curriculum at least..." Read more

"...the rest of the book to read, I find that the author wrote this in great detail, with much research of the chronicles events that took place from..." Read more

90 customers mention "Thought provoking"85 positive5 negative

Customers find the book thought-provoking and valuable. They say it provides historical details and thoughtful suggestions on how to reach a more equitable society. The book is described as difficult to read but necessary, influencing future possibilities. Readers mention that the subject matter is tough and they have many emotions while reading it. The book includes poems, photographs, and essays that argue, humanize, and question certain information.

"...This section is very helpful and contains a reasonable amount of additional information...." Read more

"...Included are poems, photographs, and essays that argue, humanize, question and romanticize moments in Black American history...." Read more

"...reminder of how history shapes the present moment and influences future possibilities. For me, this "project" has been paradigm-shifting...." Read more

"...this fact, time and time throughout our history, the most ardent, courageous, and consistent freedom fighters have been Black Americans."..." Read more

19 customers mention "Racism"8 positive11 negative

Customers have different views on the book's racism. Some find it an informative introduction to the continuing hatred for minorities and legal violence against blacks. Others feel that the author did not portray slavery in an honest way and did not follow Critical Race Theory.

"...Slavery is heartbreaking. Jim Crow is heartbreaking. The current state of politics in 2022 is depressing...." Read more

"...serves as a historical analysis of legal violence, subjugation, legal discrimination, and terrorism performed on behalf of white supremacist ideology..." Read more

"...notions about the founding of this country, and its barbaric treatment of the African peoples; brought here, for no purpose other than to be worked..." Read more

"Humanity, empathy, compassion and America's historical short-comings as she struggles through democracy and the institution of slavery is overall a..." Read more

Excellent Read
5 out of 5 stars
Excellent Read
I purchased the book because this speaks to our current moment In this country. It is thought provoking. This book was received on 1 May 2024, If I am not mistaken. Delivery was great. I discovered after I rated the book cover upper right was torn. If I wanted a used book or whatever, would have purchased one.God help me.
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry, there was an error
Sorry we couldn't load the review

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2025
    This book is the truth and nothing but the truth. Easy reading and well written with the sources. Congratulations on this stellar book!
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2025
    The 1619 Project covers the impact of slavery over a period of 400 years. As a whole, the essays are excellent, the fiction is very good, and the poetry is reasonable good.

    My primary focus is on the essays. Generally speaking, they are very well written and very readable. There is an edginess to the essays, but I think that's the point when it comes to describing the Black experience in America over the past 400 years.

    The book does contain a single notes section for the essays. This section is very helpful and contains a reasonable amount of additional information. Numerous prominent works are cited, and it's a real shame that the book doesn't contain a bibliography.
  • Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2022
    "Would America have been America without her Negro people?"
    –W.E.B. Dubois

    In exposing our nation’s troubled roots, the 1619 Project challenges us to think about American exceptionalism that we treat as the unquestioned truth. It asks us to consider who sets and shapes our shared national memory and what and particularly who gets left out.

    Ana Lucia Araujo writes in Slavery in the Age of Memory, “despite its ambitions of objectivity,” public history is molded by the perspectives of the most powerful members of society. And in the United States, public history has often been “racialized, gendered and interwoven in the fabric of white supremacy." Yet it is still posed as objective.

    This critique is not to imply that this generation of America's white citizens are personally responsible for slavery, or to suggest that the current generation of whites are ALL racist. Instead, this serves as a historical analysis of legal violence, subjugation, legal discrimination, and terrorism performed on behalf of white supremacist ideology. The 1619 Project provides a diagnosis and proposes a cure to the chronic illness of anti-black racism that continues to plague this country through hostile policy and hostile institutions.

    Academically crafted, the text unpacks America's history in accordance with American law with the addition of statements from a number of the country’s leaders, and other relevant documentation to make its case. In addition, Nikole Hannah Jones has assured that the data is present to match her argument as further evidence of a prolonged intentional injustice that has evolved into modern day abstractions designed with similar malicious intentions. She and an all-star cast of writers layout the causes and effects of policy that has placed us at this current racial reckoning moment in the US, in which many had claimed to be post-racial after the election of Barack Obama.

    The very fact that numerous Republican states have made united efforts to ban this book is a testament to censoring voices that offer productive solutions that sincerely attempt to lead to a more perfect union. A union that is unapologetically braggadocious about its freedom of speech. That is until it's time to deconstruct what is implied to "Make America Great Again?"

    For who?
    When was it great?
    Why was it great?

    ... Are just a few of the questions that entangles mythology with reality for the sake of political aims. The 1619 Project disrupts that line of thinking by arguing on behalf of so much human potential made to unreasonably suffer because of primitive debunked logic that has not improved the lot of the country as a whole.

    Included are poems, photographs, and essays that argue, humanize, question and romanticize moments in Black American history. Also included, is relentless pain, suffering and ridicule, yet Black Americans continue believing in the idea of democracy truly fulfilled one day for all Americans. And it will require an authentic moment of truth and reconciliation from us all to get there.

    A truly monumental book!
    102 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2025
    A truly commendable and impressive accomplishment. An epic distillation of vital thought and scholarship on a many-faceted subject. Absolutely essential to any understanding of America's social, economic, and political circumstances, and an important reminder of how history shapes the present moment and influences future possibilities. For me, this "project" has been paradigm-shifting. I hope to read much more on the topics discussed.
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2025
    Good research and this book should be in all schools and everyone library.
    4 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2025
    This is an eye-opening book. Not only did we not learn any of this in school, it highlights the pervasiveness of structural racism in our current society. Being part of the dominant White culture blinds us to the reality of racism. We don't have to think about it so we don't. Please think about it and this book will help you do so.
    4 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2022
    This work and other news I've consumed these past few years makes me think our current education system just out and out lies to our students, contributing to the problems we have not dealt with but also just making me pretty angry my teachers, my politicians, etc. couldn't have done a better job at recognizing an issue and shining light on it. We studied the Holocaust openly and still respect Germany as a country. Yet in many places we still pretend slavery and the civil war was a state's rights issue and only really remember as John Oliver remarked on one of his shows the couple of quotes MLK made that are easy to digest. I'm glad this collection is out there. I think it could have been shorter and still gotten it's points across but it's worth reading. Would recommend.
    4 people found this helpful
    Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
  • John
    5.0 out of 5 stars The book explains how thing have come to be.
    Reviewed in Canada on September 16, 2024
    Full of history about slavery in America and how this influences all of us to this day. A must read for every citizen.
  • Liv
    5.0 out of 5 stars BOOK: The 1619 Project
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 9, 2024
    Great, book. Very insightful!
  • Patrick C. K.
    5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best I have read.
    Reviewed in Italy on October 30, 2023
    This is one of the best books I have read. Full of history, compassion, suffering, hope and triumphs. As many already stated in the reviews, this should be required reading for students (rather than banned as it is in some schools that were forced to do so by their state governments).
  • Andreas
    5.0 out of 5 stars Wichtiger Beitrag zum Verständnis der US-amerikanischen Geschichte und Gegenwart
    Reviewed in Germany on December 28, 2021
    Viele setzen den Beginn der US-amerikanischen Geschichte auf das Jahr 1776, den Sieg über die Kolonialmächte, die Verfassung. Das 1619-Projekt datiert den Ursprung der USA zurück auf die Ankunft des ersten Schiffes, gefüllt mit afrikanischen Sklav*innen zur Ausbeutung im beginnenden amerikanischen Wirtschaftssystem. Was Nikole Hannah-Jones im NY Times Magazin begann, liegt nun ausgearbeitet als Buch vor. Wie brisant das Projekt ist, zeigt sich auch an den heftigen Gegenreaktionen des konservativen Lagers in den USA, das mit Macht versucht, den Einsatz des 1619-Projekts in Schulen zu unterbinden.
  • Lamiya Bata
    5.0 out of 5 stars Important | heartbreaking | A must read
    Reviewed in Australia on January 13, 2022
    This is a phenomenal book- coming from someone who predominantly reads fiction. It provides a critical analysis of North American history and answers a lot of questions about why the USA is the way it is in present day.
    It is heartbreaking to read at times. But it would be a disservice to the enslaved people to look away from their story, a story that isn’t often told or given its due respect.

    P.s. the 1619 podcast is exceptional too!

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?