Trevor Noah of The Daily Show needs little introduction but the relevance of his autobiography, Born a Crime, reminds us all that who we are matters only because of how we came to be who we are today.

 

Noah is a South African of mixed heritage—a product of a black Xhosa mother and a white Swiss father when such a union was a punishable crime in apartheid South Africa. Although Noah tells his stories just as he delivers his nightly comedy, I daresay that his mother, the unflappable Patricia Noah, is the true epicenter of most stories. Noah’s stories span his upbringing from dining on butcher bones and caterpillars during lean times to living as a high roller during his heydays of party MC’ing; from his mother’s hilarious righteous religious antics to his stepfather’s attempted murder of his mother—all of these stories are delivered with immense insight, historical context, and humor which gives readers a window into the treacherous racism of an apartheid nation.

 

Born a Crime is a kaleidoscope of experiences packed into a compelling, alarming, and humorous biography that never ceases to entertain.