The power of language, discussed beautifully in Toni Morrison's Nobel lecture, is felt throughout the essays, speeches and meditations contained in this collection. With controlled anger, elegance, and literary excellence, Morrison's words interrogate the world around us, considering race, gender, and globalisation. Heart-stoppingly introduced by a prayer for the dead of 9/11, a meditation on Martin Luther King Jr. and a eulogy for James Baldwin, this collection addresses audiences ranging from graduating students to visitors to both the Louvre and America's Black Holocaust Museum.