Buying Options

Print List Price:	$27.00
Kindle Price:	$3.99 Save $23.01 (85%)
Sold by:	Hachette Book Group Price set by seller.

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Enter a promotion code or Gift Card

Share <Embed>

Well, That Escalated Quickly: Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist by [Franchesca Ramsey]

Follow the Author

Franchesca Ramsey

Well, That Escalated Quickly: Memoirs and Mistakes of an Accidental Activist Kindle Edition

by Franchesca Ramsey (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

141 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$3.99

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Hardcover, Illustrated

"Please retry"

$7.99

$2.47

$0.95

Paperback

"Please retry"

—

Audio CD, Audiobook, CD, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$22.75

$13.51

—

A sharp and timely exploration of race, online activism, and real communication in the age of social media rants, trolls, and call-out wars, from veteran video blogger and star of MTV's Decoded Franchesca Ramsey.

Franchesca Ramsey didn't set out to be an activist. Or a comedian. Or a commentator on identity, race, and culture, really. But then her YouTube video "What White Girls Say . . . to Black Girls" went viral. Twelve million views viral. Faced with an avalanche of media requests, fan letters, and hate mail, she had two choices: Jump in and make her voice heard or step back and let others frame the conversation. After a crash course in social justice and more than a few foot-in-mouth moments, she realized she had a unique talent and passion for breaking down injustice in America in ways that could make people listen and engage.

In her first book, Ramsey uses her own experiences as an accidental activist to explore the many ways we communicate with each other--from the highs of bridging gaps and making connections to the many pitfalls that accompany talking about race, power, sexuality, and gender in an unpredictable public space...the internet.

Well, that Escalated Quickly includes Ramsey's advice on dealing with internet trolls and low-key racists, confessions about being a former online hater herself, and her personal hits and misses in activist debates with everyone from bigoted Facebook friends and misguided relatives to mainstream celebrities and YouTube influencers. With sharp humor and her trademark candor, Ramsey shows readers we can have tough conversations that move the dialogue forward, rather than backward, if we just approach them in the right way.

Print length

238 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Grand Central Publishing
Publication date

May 22, 2018
File size

3405 KB
Page Flip

Enabled
Word Wise

Enabled
Enhanced typesetting

Enabled
See all details

Phoebe Robinson
294
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $12.99
Issa Rae
3,359
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $12.99
Phoebe Robinson
756
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $11.99
Amanda Seales
2,251
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $9.99
Luvvie Ajayi
2,209
Kindle Edition
in Humor Literary Criticism
1 offer from $3.99
Austin Channing Brown
7,232
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $9.99

Create your FREE Amazon Business account to save up to 10% with Business-only prices and free shipping. Register today

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Franchesca Ramsey is a social justice advocate, comedian, actress, writer, video blogger, sought-after speaker, and the host of the award-winning web series Decoded on MTV. With videos topping twelve million views, she has been featured on NPR, Anderson Cooper, CNN, MTV, the BBC, and in the New York Times. A former writer and correspondent for The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, she now has a major late-night television show in development with Comedy Central. She lives in New York City.

--This text refers to the audioCD edition.

Review

The author offers her story as an illustration of why, in today's overheated social and political environment, it is more important than ever to pay close attention to how we communicate with each other...Ramsey's narrative is a snappy mix of the funny, sad, and horrifying incidents that have shaped her life...An admirable exploration of the rapidly morphing boundaries of social mores and online outrage; the author helpfully points the way toward better communication.

-- "Kirkus Reviews" --This text refers to the audioCD edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0763L5WKK
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grand Central Publishing; Illustrated edition (May 22, 2018)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 22, 2018
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3405 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 238 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #103,780 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #38 in Biographies of Social Activists
- #206 in Biographies of Actors & Entertainers
- #223 in Social Activist Biographies

Customer Reviews:
141 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Franchesca Ramsey

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Franchesca Ramsey is a social justice advocate, comedian, actress, writer, video blogger, sought-after speaker, and the host of the award-winning MTV web series Decoded. She has been featured on NPR, Anderson LIVE, CNN, the BBC, and in the New York Times. A former writer and correspondent for Comedy Central’s "The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore" she has also written for BET’s "Black Girls Rock!" award show and currently has multiple television projects in development. Her first book "Well, That Escalated Quickly" will be published by Hachette/Grand Central on May 22nd 2018.

Customer reviews

5 star		77%
4 star		11%
3 star		8%
2 star		1%
1 star		4%

How are ratings calculated?

Reviews with images

See all customer images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

shiawase

Honest, Humorous, Important

Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2018

Verified Purchase

Devoured the whole book over the weekend, and it was wonderful. I live under a rock and wasn’t real familiar with Franchesca Ramsey's work (though as I read, I realized I had seen and loved some of her videos when I'd come across them over the years). She's become a favorite after this book.

While I haven't experienced sudden YouTube celebrity status, it was interesting and easy to imagine her experience, suddenly having an audience of people looking to her to say something and not always getting it right and then facing various types of online shitstorms. Many of us have dealt with a much smaller version of that if we've been willing to have real and not easy conversations about racism and other issues.

It was so refreshing to hear her very honest and real experiences and kind of nod along at descriptions of interactions on social media and also hear solid advice of how to engage (or not engage at that time and place, maybe take it private - something I've found helpful to do but rarely see talked about as much, so it was nice to see). There's even a handy flowchart of when to unfriend someone who has said something racist or otherwise not cool - it's not always so cut and dry (relationship, situation, various factors). I appreciated the amount of realistic nuance the author included on topics like this along with the reminder to keep the focus on the issues being discussed and not to devolve into less helpful name-calling, attacking appearance, etc.

This was such an enjoyable read because the author has such a great sense of humor and willingness to share her own missteps and explain concepts in such a detailed and accessible way.

If you are involved at all in social justice conversations in real life or online or just want to know some good places to start learning more (especially the concepts explained in the back), this book is an excellent resource.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

Chelsea

"How to" guide on navigating the internet and social justice

Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2018

Verified Purchase

“Well That Escalated Quickly” is a series of essays from Franchesca Ramsey (a.k.a. @chescaleigh), an internet social justice advocate/YouTuber who always works to break down heavy topics in a way that’s easy to understand.

This book is a guide on how to navigate our (in many ways) new lives online. Franchesca writes about her own experiences online, unexpectedly stumbling into activism after one of her YouTube videos goes viral, and gives advice on how to handle conversations around social justice and where to pick your battles.

The essays in this book manage to be simultaneously both laugh-out-loud funny and super insightful — not an easy thing to balance. Franchesca writes about heavy topics (racism, sexism, call-out culture) in a way that’s funny and accessible, but never sacrifices the quality of the knowledge she shares.

I also appreciated how she wrote about mistakes she’s made in the past — we’ve all been there. It’s only through admitting our mistakes that we can learn from them and grow. Our learning is an ongoing process — we can’t move past our blind spots until we see them — and it’s nice to see that Franchesca views her own learning in that way too.

For anyone who spends a good amount of time online (which let’s face it, we all do), this book is a must read.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Brandon

Introspective view on someone evolving in the public eye

Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2018

Verified Purchase

I may be a little biased because I've followed Franchesca for years but I absolutely loved this book. She's one of the hardest working people in the biz so I'm so happy for her to be writing a book!

This book is so wonderfully introspective and I don't think most people in the public eye are as analytical as she is. As someone who has followed her, I hadn't quite realized that she made these transitions but reflecting back, I realize that they have been distinct stages in her public image.

I love all the teaching moments in the book too, especially about calling in vs calling out. I definitely do the latter and will be practicing doing more of the former. It's stuff like this that is why I read books. It's completely changed my perspective on the goal of public discussion on race or LGBT issues.

If you like the dissection of social justice issues and how to effect change, I highly recommend this book.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Matthew K.

Becoming a Modern Celebrity Meets Social Justice 101 - Thumbs up!

Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2018

Verified Purchase

I discovered Franchesca a few years ago from some of her videos that came right after "S*** White Girls Say to Black Girls". She's super inspiring for her willingness to be vulnerable about her career path and her mistakes, and that says a lot for a girl who's part of an online media movement that already trends towards oversharing. That vulnerability is the biggest strength of Franchesca's writing. Not every joke written on these pages lands, but the sincerity and wisdom absolutely do.

Between her encounters with viral stardom and some surprisingly cringe-worthy confrontations with problematic celebrities, there are lots of great suggestions about addressing social issues within your family and friend groups, a breakdown of the dark origins of innocent words and a handy glossary that add up to a memoir that doubles as a social justice on the web 101 course. If you're familiar with these topics already, there might not be a lot more you'll end up learning, but when combined with one woman's adventures in learning and embracing activism herself, I could take away things I could work on myself.

(And follow @chescaleigh online! Her Instagram is killer.)

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

April D

Very well written, interesting, bit funny, and a quick read. Well worth it.

Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2018

Verified Purchase

Super enjoyable memoir. Franchesca doesn't shy away from any of the mistakes (or good steps!) she's taken along her personal path towards social activism. Her writing style is snappy and at times funny (when appropriate). I really enjoyed her look into the Internet's roll in both sending her to #fame and then to being #trolled (and being A Hater for a while) and how all of that rolls into learning from mistakes to be a better activist. It wasn't just a fun and interesting biography; it was a really nice call to action. Highly recommend.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Dianne M. Daniels

Love this look into another side of Franchesca "Chescalocs" Ramsey

Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2019

Verified Purchase

I bought this book because I wanted to know more about the author. I followed her loc videos on YouTube, and then discovered she had a whole LIFE outside of what I knew of her. This book is funny, touching, uplifting, and I really enjoyed reading about her.

Helpful