So I’m tagging along behind, running some and walking fast and breathing hard as I try to get caught up again with my readings for class. (One book was due Friday; one and some is due on Tuesday.)

Which means I couldn’t justify to myself the time to write out one of the handful of bigger thoughts I’ve held onto since Christmas’ liturgical season.

But I could justify my saying to you: Read this book.

Part of me cannot believe it only came to us in 2011. I read, and read, and can no longer not-see what Dr. Cone describes. It is a great work of art in that way: I shake my head at myself, because now this is deeply, darkly obvious.

As you might guess, it is not a light read. It has the word “lynching” in the title. (Which iOS keeps turning into “lunching”… getting more than a little creepy, that.)

As one of my classmates said to another, “This is my life, what I know. When it gets hard for you, and you want to put it down, keep going. This is a conversation between us — hard, but worth having.”

Please join our conversation.