Men We Reaped

memoir by Ward

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July 21, 2026

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Men We Reaped is a 2013 memoir by Jesmyn Ward. The book chronicles a four-year period in Ward's life marked by the deaths of her brother and four other young men from her Mississippi community. Ward's brother, Joshua, was killed by a drunk driver in 2000, an event that profoundly impacted her and inspired her to write. The memoir explores themes of loss, grief, and the challenges faced by poor African Americans in coastal Mississippi. It has been praised for its raw honesty and lyrical prose in depicting the lives and deaths of these young men.12

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12 Contemporary Black Authors You Must Read
Jesmyn Ward
…gained praise for her memoir Men We Reaped and the anthology The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race, which she edited.
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…gained praise for her memoir Men We Reaped and the anthology The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race, which she edited.
Read More

Jesmyn Ward
Novels and nonfiction works
…Alabama, Ward published a memoir, Men We Reaped. The book focuses on a four-year period marked by the deaths of her brother and four other young men she knew from her home community. Acclaimed for its searingly personal portraits of young Black men whose lives were cut short, the memoir…
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…Alabama, Ward published a memoir, Men We Reaped. The book focuses on a four-year period marked by the deaths of her brother and four other young men she knew from her home community. Acclaimed for its searingly personal portraits of young Black men whose lives were cut short, the memoir…
Read More