Paved With Good Intentions: The Failure of Race Relations in Contemporary America

Taylor, Jared

ISBN 10: 0881848662 / ISBN 13: 9780881848663

Published by Carroll & Graf Pub, 1992

About this Item

Very Good condition. Very Good dust jacket. A copy that may have a few cosmetic defects. May also contain light spine creasing or a few markings such as an owner's name, short gifter's inscription or light stamp.

Seller Inventory # A14B-03226

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Paved With Good Intentions: The Failure of Race Relations in Contemporary America
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub
• Publication Date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0881848662
• ISBN 13: 9780881848663
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

About this title

Synopsis

Examines the reasons for the ongoing tension in America and criticizes government programs for isolating and alienating Blacks

Reviews

Arguing that white racism is more an excuse for black failure than an explanation, Taylor ( Shadows of the Rising Sun: A Critical View of the Japanese Miracle ) challenges racial orthodoxies, but with very limited success. Ranging through studies and press accounts, Taylor effectively catalogues numerous black excesses in the name of solidarity (such as jurors' defenses of former D.C. mayor Marion Barry, ultimately convicted of one charge--possession of cocaine--of 14 brought against him); he notes that blacks commit far more interracial violent crimes than whites do; he criticizes "race-norming" in employment tests; and he dissects studies concluding that police are more likely to shoot blacks (instances of shootings, he argues, are in fact proportionate to arrests for violent crime). But Taylor, who is white, too easily dismisses the notion of institutional racism; he simplistically argues that Asian achievements prove that American racism is not so great an obstacle to success; and he can't understand the role of black-only organizations. Arguing that the problem of the underclass is mainly a moral one, Taylor disregards economics. Instead, he calls for get-tough police practices, favors mandatory, no-appeal death sentences for drug dealers and suggests that to combat "reckless procreation" the government should require female welfare recipients to use the contraceptive Norplant. His blurred distinctions between the "underclass" and blacks reveal his biases.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.