My Grandmother's Hands
Minneapolis therapist Resmaa Menakem, who trained under both Bessel van der Kolk and Peter Levine, argues that racialized violence in America has shaped Black, white, and police-officer nervous systems for 400 years, and that the work of repair has to happen in the body before it can happen in policy or relationships. The book moves between Menakem's family memoir, his clinical practice, and the historical record of American racial violence. Each chapter ends with body-based practices designed to discharge what Menakem calls white-body supremacy, racialized stress, and inherited trauma in three distinct reader groups.
What you might want to know about My Grandmother's Hands
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A Minneapolis therapist trained under van der Kolk and Levine shows how racialized violence lives in the body across generations, with body-based practices for Black, white, and police-officer readers.
Resmaa Menakem is a licensed therapist and the book draws on contemporary trauma-informed practice including polyvagal theory. The somatic exercises align with mainstream body-based therapy, though the racialized-trauma framework is more clinical-essay than peer-reviewed empirical work.
My Grandmother's Hands was written by Resmaa Menakem, published in 2017 by Penguin Books, Limited.
My Grandmother's Hands is 352 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, My Grandmother's Hands takes most readers 5 to 8 hours to finish.
My Grandmother's Hands is a standalone novel by Resmaa Menakem, not part of a series.
My Grandmother's Hands is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.