"In American Bloodlines, Sonya Lea reveals the way that whiteness harms through an exhaustive, often vulnerable, excavation of her privilege and learned racism. She illustrates the hatred animated in her ancestry with a courageous sobriety that emerges through countless interviews, poignant recollections, and meticulous research. The result is an engaging blueprint for the repair of self and one's community from an underexplored perspective. American Bloodlines is required reading for all those still uncertain about the murderous outcomes of white supremacy and for all those who yearn to heal.”—Irvin Weathersby Jr., In Open Contempt: Confronting White Supremacy in Art and Public Space

"“In American Bloodlines, Sonya Lea confronts America’s history of racial terror and the enduring legacy of lynch culture. This searing and necessary book serves as an essential act of reckoning and remembrance, urging us to face the difficult truths that shape our past, present, and future with clarity and humility.” —Lacy M. Johnson, The Reckonings, Essays on Justice for the Twenty-First Century

“Sonya Lea's unflinching account of complicity in America's racial violence sets an example at a crucial time when this country—and, indeed, the rest of the world—must contemplate our acquiescence and our silences in the face of genocidal hate.”— Anna Badkhen, author of Bright Unbearable Reality

In tracing her own and a nation's lines of blood, Sonya Lea takes readers on an intellectual and moral odyssey. With compelling prose, American Bloodlines clears a path homeward that is lit with loyalty and belonging.—Emily Bingham, My Old Kentucky Home: The Astonishing Life and Reckoning of an Iconic American Song

“Sonya Lea masterfully models how to engage in the project of reconciliation, truth telling and grace that is so urgently needed in this moment." —Garrett Bucks, The Right Kind of White & The Barnraisers Project