Building on the Washington Post’s coverage of the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin in 2020 and the months of protests that followed, reporters Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa trace Floyd’s life before the world knew his name. Floyd grew up Black in an America of segregated schools and overpoliced communities, came of age amid the era of mass incarceration, and was killed by a white police officer. What was his life like? Through hundreds of interviews and a close examination of the historical context that laid the foundation for Floyd’s life, His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice attempts to answer that question. The resulting text—deeply reported, expansive, and empathetic—gives readers a clearer understanding of a man who tried, against the steep odds of systemic racism, to lead a full, peaceful life in America. —Mahita Gajanan