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Jason Curry

“All comfortable notions about the American Dream are shoved aside as Reniqua Allen lays out the harsh and often disturbing challenges facing today’s young African-Americans. A powerful, compelling, and important book.”

— Bob Herbert, author, filmmaker, and former op-ed columnist for the New York Times

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Jason Curry

“Reniqua Allen's must-read book takes us beyond the statistics and stereotypes, telling the stories of young black Americans who are creating, working, fighting, loving, and surviving. Allen's vital and empathetic reportage shares their voices--and we would be wise to listen.”

—Heather McGhee, former President and Distinguished Senior Fellow, Demos

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Jason Curry

“Reniqua Allen strikes a fine balance between the personal histories of ambitious Black millennials and the systems in place that threaten their mobility. With acute detail to their location, background, and motive, Allen's sharp journalistic skills are center stage, crafting reportage, cultural commentary, and personal anecdotes into a thought-provoking book that will add to our discussions about race, capitalism, education, and self-actualization.”

— Morgan Jerkins, author of This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America

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Jason Curry

“In her revelatory new book, It Was All a Dream, Reniqua Allen amplifies voices that America needs desperately to hear. She explores the lives of Black millennials who strive for success – or sometimes basic survival – with insight, empathy and candor. Pinned between the unfinished business of the civil rights movement and the economic, political and racial rifts of the post-Obama era, their stories are both heartbreaking and hopeful, the pent-up demand of a new generation demanding what has always been its right: liberation.”

— Jessica Bruder, author of Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century