Never Drank the Kool-Aid: Essays

His name is Touré--just Touré--and like many of the musicians, athletes, and celebrities he's profiled, he has affected the way that we think about culture in America. He has profiled Eminem, 50 Cent, and Alicia Keys for the cover of Rolling Stone. He's played high-stakes poker with Jay-Z and basketball with Prince and Wynton Marsalis. In Touré's world, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. sits beside Condoleezza Rice who sits beside hip-hop pioneer Tupac Shakur, and all of them are fascinating company.

Never Drank the Kool-Aid is the chronicle of Touré's unparalleled journey through the American funhouse called pop culture. Its rooms are filled with creative, arrogant, kind, ordinary, and extraordinary people, most of whom happen to be famous. It is Touré's gift to be able to see through the artifice of their world and understand the genuine motivations behind their achievements--to see who they truly are as people. This is a searingly funny, surprisingly unguarded, and deeply insightful look at a world few of us comprehend.

Author: Touré
Publisher: Picador USA
Published: 02/21/2006
Pages: 416
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.40w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9780312425784

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 01/02/2006 pg. 48
Kirkus Reviews 01/01/2006 pg. 35
Library Journal 03/01/2006 pg. 90
Ebony 04/01/2006 pg. 28
New York Times 04/09/2006 pg. 16
Black Issues Book Review 07/01/2006 pg. 42

About the Author

Touré is the author of the novel Soul City and the story collection The Portable Promised Land. A contributing editor at Rolling Stone, his writing has also appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Tennis Magazine, The Best American Essays, and Da Capo Best American Music Writing, among other publications. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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