That's How They Get You

By: Damon Young

Published by Random House, 2025-06-03

<b>From the Thurber Prize-winning author of <i>What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker </i>comes a pioneering collection of Black humor from some of the most acclaimed writers and performers at work today</b><br><br>A critic explores the paradox of finding community in “the dozens” while grieving. A violent town ritual causes an all-too-familiar moral panic. An email thread between friends on why we need an updated <i>Green Book</i> but for public toilets. All across the nation, “Karens” become illegal overnight. These are just a few of the hilarious worlds contained in Damon Young’s groundbreaking anthology featuring the best, funniest, and Blackest essays, short stories, letters, and rants.<br><br>With words that roast, ignite, and burn while connecting to and coalescing around a singular thesis, <i>That's How They Get You</i> emphasizes how and why Black American humor is uniquely transfixing. This is a mixture of not just observational anxieties and stream-of-consciousness lucidities but also acute political clarity about America. Edited and with an introduction by Damon Young, the critically acclaimed author of <i>What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker,</i> the collection features new material from an all-star roster of contributors, including Hanif Abdurraqib, Mahogany L. Browne, Wyatt Cenac, Kiese Laymon, Deesha Philyaw, Roy Wood Jr., and Nicola Yoon.