The book's title comes from Richard Wright's poem "Between the World and Me,"[10] originally published in the July/August 1935 issue of Partisan Review.[11] Wright's poem is about a Black man discovering the site of a lynching and becoming incapacitated with fear, creating a barrier between himself and the world.[12][13] Despite Between the World and Me undergoing many changes as the book was revised, Coates always planned to end with the story of Mabel Jones. The only endorsement Coates sought was that of novelist Toni Morrison, which he received.[14] Between the World and Me was published by Spiegel & Grau in 2015.[2]
The phrase "between the world and me" is literally in the text of Baldwin's The Fire Next Time.[15]
