Race Matters - Hardcover

West, Cornel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807009725 ISBN 13: 9780807009727

Publisher: Beacon Press, 2001

Synopsis

The fundamental litmus test for American democracy-its economy, government, criminal justice system, education, mass media, and culture-remains: how broad and intense are the arbitrary powers used and deployed against black people. In this sense, the problem of the twenty-first century remains the problem of the color line. --from the new Preface

First published in 1993 on the one-year anniversary of the L.A. riots, Race Matters was a national best-seller, and it has since become a groundbreaking classic on race in America.

Race Matters contains West's most powerful essays on the issues relevant to black Americans today: despair, black conservatism, black-Jewish relations, myths about black sexuality, the crisis in leadership in the black community, and the legacy of Malcolm X. And the insights that he brings to these complicated problems remain fresh, exciting, creative, and compassionate. Now more than ever, Race Matters is a book for all Americans, as it helps us to build a genuine multiracial democracy in the new millennium.

About this title

From the Publisher:

" [A] compelling blend of philosphy, sociology and political commentary...It directly takes on some of the most volatile issues facing American society today...One can only applaud the ferocious moral vision and astute intellect on display in these pages."--The New York Times

"As moving as any of the sermons of the Rev. Martin Luther King, as profound as W.E.B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk, as exhilarating in their offering of liberation as James Baldwin's early essays."--Washington Post Book World

"Exciting...illuminating..West's thinking consistently challenges the conventional wisdom..[and] confronts the reader with profound and unsettling insights." --Newsday

From the Inside Flap:

With a new introduction, the groundbreaking classic Race Matters" affirms its position as the bestselling, most influential, and most original articulation of the urgent issues in America's ongoing racial debate.
Cornel West is at the forefront of thinking about race. In Race Matters" he addresses a range of issues, from the crisis in black leadership and the myths surrounding black sexuality to affirmative action, the new black conservatism, and the strained relations between Jews and African Americans. He never hesitates to confront the prejudices of all his readers?or wavers in his insistence that they share a common destiny. Bold in its thought and written with a redemptive passion grounded in the tradition of the African-American church, Race Matters" is a book that is at once challenging and deeply healing.

About this edition

• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0807009725
• ISBN 13: 9780807009727
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 128