Holy American Burnout!

by Sean Enfield

“Profound insights into the current reality of America, taking on race, inequality, violence, and education. An impressive debut from an exciting new voice!"—Daryl Farmer, author of Where We Stories and Bicycling Beyond the Divide"Sean Enfield shares tales as varied as finding connections in churches and moshpits as well as teaching at a Muslim middle school…He tells us facts we should know and reminds us of truths we shouldn’t forget. "—Sean Hill, author of Dangerous Goods and Blood Ties & Brown Liquor"Driven by an empathic imagination and formal invention, Holy American Burnout! is a book of marked complexity and honesty."—Sara Eliza Johnson, author of Vapor and Bone MapSean Enfield delves into the great American burnout.Threading his experiences both as a Texan student and later as a first-year teacher of predominately Muslim students at a Texas middle school, Holy American Burnout! weaves personal essay and cultural critique into the historical fabric of Black and bi-racial identity.Enfield intersects examinations of which voices are granted legitimacy by virtue of school curriculum, the complex relationship between basketball and education for Black and brown students, his students’ burgeoning political consciousness during the 2016 presidential campaign, and cultural figures ranging from Kendrick Lamar to Hamlet.These classroom narratives weave around Enfield’s own formative experiences contending with a conflicted bi-racial family lineage, reenacting the Middle Passage as the only Black student in his 7th grade history class, and moshing in both Christian and secular hardcore pits.As Enfield wrestles with the physical, mental, and emotional burdens that American society places on educators, students, and all relatively conscious minorities in this country, he reaches for an education that better navigates our burnt-out empire.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

Published December 5, 2023

Reviews

[Nathan Shuherk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes. Yes. Yes.

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not bad!

[Hope · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this essay collection. Feel like my teacher friends would really appreciate

[David Oskutis · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a new voice to add to the choir of great American essayists, and that voice belongs to Sean Enfield. With dry wit, poignant observations, desperation, struggle, and a few triumphs sprinkled in, Holy American Burnout! brings to light a viewpoint not often seen in the literary world, but should have its own spotlight, standing center stage. While there is still room for slight improvements, Enfield's work can stand proudly alongside other writers such as David Sedaris and Ta Nehisi Coates. I'd also add to that list, though, as the (some may say outdated) phrase suggests, Enfield's a muckraker to match style and skill as Upton Sinclair. Where Alex Haley took us generations into the past to reveal where he came from, Sean Enfield illuminates the daily human condition in present day, but with just as gripping a journey. His ability to place the readers in the classroom, on the highway, even at home checking social media are as vivid and tangible as any Ernest J Gaines passage.

I personally hate the term "The next (insert famous name here", as I believe there is no "next" Elvis Presley, or "next" Michael Jordan, and so I will not say that Sean Enfield very well could be the next James Baldwin, because I don't think that's possible, but what I will say is that Enfield is definitely racing along that path. There is tragedy in his truths, and an ache in how the world, so similar to my own, and yet so completely different, and reading how he has viewed the same things I have viewed but from such wonderful and awful lenses only makes me want to read more. Sean Enfield is carrying the torch lit by generations before him, and dousing it so he can light a brighter LED bulb and crying out old messages into a new world.

Read this book. Experience America from someone else's point of view. Take a step back from the mundane view of a "Massage Therapy" sign on the highway and see the private school of children trying to find their own way in a world that distrusts them, and sympathize with the teacher at his wits end, being pushed, shoved, and kicked by life, trying to make ends meet, trying to do right by the next generation, trying to live a productive life of one's own, trying to keep the peace with the older generations that should know better, but don't. I am truly blown away by how powerful the words on these pages struck me, and I can only hope there are many, many more to come.

[Jason Pollard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartfelt, formally daring, and excellent proof that Good Shit Does Come Out of Denton, Texas, Actually!

[Jacob Nef · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Holy American Burnout!* by Sean Enfield is a strikingly honest, at times darkly humorous collection that explores the layered experience of being a young Black teacher navigating a system seemingly set up to burn him out. Enfield’s essays bring the reader into his classroom, where traditional curriculum collides with his desire to make literature resonate with students. In one standout essay, *To Pimp a Mockingbird,* he wrestles with teaching Harper Lee’s classic novel to his middle schoolers, asking the hard question: “What would the novel be like if Tom had more of a voice?” Through moments like this, Enfield uncovers the “rhythm of participation,” where students connect with the material on their own terms, even writing their own verses from Tom Robinson’s perspective.

Enfield’s ability to blend his sharp cultural critique with humor is rare; as he writes about students rapping their way through Tom Robinson’s story, he does so with equal parts frustration and admiration, illustrating both the failures and triumphs of modern education. This book is also an exploration of America’s sociopolitical landscape, especially in how it marginalizes Black voices and the perspectives of young teachers. The essays are infused with pop culture references that act as lifelines for Enfield as he finds himself at odds with a system that often feels as oppressive as it does nonsensical. One student even emails him a playlist after a lesson, “the gesture—not the songs—that matters.”

In *Holy American Burnout!* Enfield asks readers to reconsider who tells the stories in our classrooms, our streets, and our history books. His prose is accessible but loaded, simultaneously challenging and charming, ultimately making this collection a meditation on empathy, resilience, and the power of finding one’s own voice amid the noise.

[Wendy Fontaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard Sean read from this collection at a reading event and ordered it the same night. I thoroughly enjoyed these essays about race, education, music and history. There's cultural criticism, recitations on pedagogy and reflections about what it means to feel burned out as a teacher and as a young Black man in America.
Favorite titles include To Pimp a Mockingbird (about adding rap lyrics to lesson plans), Paper Shackles (about a classroom exercise in which Sean was asked to make and wear paper shackles to learn about the Middle Passage), and The Day Prince Died (self explanatory).
What I liked most is that Sean's writing is smart and sharp, with one eye looking inward and one eye looking outward. I'm glad I found this writer.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous and brilliantly written collection of essays highlighting the burn out of teaching, of living under capitalism, of being Black in America. Enfield reinvents his voice, shifts tone and point of view masterfully, and manages to infuse heavy subject matter with wit throughout the progression of this slim but deceptively dense book. Though his tone as narrator during the latter half of the book feels somewhat bleak (and understandably so), the ending of the final essay in this book is one of the most beautiful, uplifting messages of hope and perseverance I have ever read. It’s been a long time since something I’ve read has moved me to tears. Mr. Enfield has done just that.

[Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

The challenge of being born, the mistake of diving into a shallow pool, the effort to be a good basketball coach, the goodness of encouraging young people while the system tries to push them down: "Here I am, Lord, forever burnt out before you." Everything we've ever done is stored in the body and flows through the body, like time flows through a life and we flow through time: "all we have is time and I ain't running it out for nobody. I ain't burning out. I'm sticking around..."

[Dylan Catherman · Rating 5 out of 5]

From student, teacher, and grandma’s favorite unconscious exemption comes Holy American Burnout! an intimate collection of essays that forces readers to come face to face with the realities of a society that has grown comfortable and complacent with racial inequality and violence, both macro and micro, that pervades damn near every facet of the day-to-day life of modern America. A quick, yet impactful read with stories and lessons I won’t soon forget.

[Cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Get this book for everyone in your life, but especially your teachers and your children's teachers.

[Ben]

I found lots to like in this collection and related to his experiences as an untrained English teacher immensely.

[Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 the last essay on endings and frank ocean is very good

[Marisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Split Lip Press · Rating 5 out of 5]

WINNER OF THE DISCOVERY PRIZE FOR NONFICTION, WRITERS' LEAGUE OF TEXAS
FINALIST FOR THE CLMP FIRECRACKER AWARD IN CREATIVE NONFICTION
NAMED A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOK OF 2024

"A tour-de-force collection of essays on issues surrounding race, education, and American history." (Starred Kirkus Review!)

Join Sean Enfield as he delves into the great American condition: burnout.

Threading his experiences both as a Texan student and later as a first-year teacher of predominately Muslim students at a Texas middle school, Holy American Burnout! weaves personal essay and cultural critique into the historical fabric of Black and bi-racial identity.

Enfield intersects examinations of which voices are granted legitimacy by virtue of school curriculum, the complex relationship between basketball and education for Black and brown students, his students’ burgeoning political consciousness during the 2016 presidential campaign, and cultural figures ranging from Kendrick Lamar to Hamlet.

These classroom narratives weave around Enfield’s own formative experiences contending with a conflicted bi-racial family lineage, reenacting the Middle Passage as the only Black student in his 7th grade history class, and moshing in both Christian and secular hardcore pits.

As Enfield wrestles with the physical, mental, and emotional burdens that American society places on educators, students, and all relatively conscious minorities in this country, he reaches for an education that better navigates our burnt-out empire.

A spectacular essay collection blurbed by Sean Hill, Sara Eliza Johnson, and Daryl Farmer, who says, "In the spirit of Baldwin and Abdurraqib, the essays herein are vulnerable and honest, stunning in their reach for clarity."

[fwarg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honest, dynamic and invigorating. Sean is a gifted story teller and a lovely writer, but what shines is his unflinching honesty.