Subjects:  1. 1975-    2. African Americans    3. Discrimination & Racism    4. Ethnic Issues    5. Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - General    6. Political Ideologies - Nationalism    7. Politics and government    8. Race And Ethnic Relations    9. Race identity    10. Social Science    11. Social conditions    12. Sociology    13. Women's Studies - General    14. Africa    15. Ethnography    16. Feminism    17. Social Science / Women's Studies    18. USA   

Reviews (35)

The Same, Yet Different
Dalton Conley has written a very good book looking at race relations through the prism of his life growing up white in a largely minority project of New York City.What comes out of his writing are two points.
Thanks for the memories
I grew up in the lower east side around the same time as Dalton.The Baruch projects was my home from birth to age 27.I was able to enjoy this book at three levels.One, is was a validation of my experiences.I was a nuyorican nerd who felt like I belonged and didn't belong.I believe Dalton had that feeling as well.I also thought the book indirectly educated people about identity; although white, Dalton was one of us, a lower east sider.Lastly, I enjoyed it as an american story.Alot of people made it out of there and did well.
A Book That Everyone Should Read
A great book. Well written, very insightful and very entertaining. It injects you with racial and class awareness that you wouldn't believe. I loved the book. Conley is an amazingly bright writer that does more than just tell us about his experiences and expect us to fill in the gaps. He explains why all of his experiences are significant and what we should gain from hearing about them. He treats his childhood as a social science experiment at a level that anyone can understand. I have been growing up in a very white area of the US and this book has been a very valuable resource for me in learning about the way race and class affect children as they grow up. An essential read for everyone, especially those who have a very limited view of the entire race/class spectrum. BUY THIS BOOK! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Children's Studies    3. Discrimination & Racism    4. General    5. Minority Studies - Race Relations    6. New York    7. New York (State)    8. Race identity    9. Social Science    10. Social conditions    11. Sociology    12. Sociology - Urban    13. White children    14. Whites    15. Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs   

Reviews (5)

Excellent look at tough racial/ethnic questions
This is a very thought-provoking book and very thoroughly researched. Dr Sowell seems to look at many issues of race and ethnicity with fresh eyes and considers a very broad range of evidence to draw very interesting conclusions.

An excellent read; buy it now
In six well-researched and -written essays, Dr Sowell challenges both conventional and emerging feelings on social relations in the US.He tackles both white guilt and black resentment.His central point is that blacks in the US may have had a tough time in this country, but other ethnic groups across the world have had comparable problems and that the black community's future well-being is in their own hands.
Six powerful essays full of great information and fine analysis
Yes, this title sounds provocative and I am sure some people shy away from the book because of it.But you shouldn't hesitate to get a copy of this book and read it cover to cover.It is a collection of six fine essays on the topic of race, ethnicity, historical honesty, education, and the corrupting power of political influence on each of these topics.
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Subjects:  1. Discrimination & Racism    2. Ethnic Studies - General    3. Ethnic relations    4. History    5. Minority Studies - Race Relations    6. Race And Ethnic Relations    7. Social Science    8. Sociology    9. Stereotype (Psychology)    10. United States    11. Social Science / General   

Reviews (2)

Context, context, context
In the complex and highly-charged debate that is the origins of persecution in the Middle Ages, Nirenberg's contribution is a useful and timely one. Broadly speaking, his thesis is a counter to the long view of Moore _et al_; what interests Nirenberg is the specific, the day-to-day functioning of violence in its social and political context. It is for this reason that he focuses mainly on particular incidents and localities - although certainly not at the expense of broadening his picture where necessary. His method is essentially a comparative one, contrasting particular events in France and Aragon in order to demonstrate the infinite variety and flexibility of medieval attitudes towards minorities. This use of case studies enables Nirenberg to explore his targets in much greater depth than would be possible in a generalised study, and this is, in many ways, his point: a focus on context, not unified theory. Turning my gaze
The first thing to be said about Communities of Violence: Persecution of Minorities in the Middle Ages is thatthe contents do not live up to the title. Perhaps this is an editor's decision rather than the author's, but the fact is that this is NOT anything like a comprehensive history of the subject. A better title might be A Study of a Few Incidents Involving Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Aragon and Catalonia in the First Half of the 14th Century. The buyer of this book will be disappointed on that score if he was expecting something more encompassing. Another disappointing aspect of this book is the author's disconcerting use of trendy post-modern jargon: it is full of talk of "discourses","narratives","structures", turning one's "gaze", "paradigms", and other terms which seem designed more to obtain tenure for the author than to convey real information and to constitute a satisfying work of history. The book does contain many interesting tales arising from the author's research into Catalonian and Aragonese archives, research which seems to be highly original on his part. Thus, we have vignettes of Christians, Jews, and Muslims gambling together and suing each other, incidents of interfaith sex and prostitutiuon, and intercommunal violence. (I was fascinated to learn that of Muslims applying for medical licenses in 14th century Valencia, most of them were women.) The governments of the time seem to have been largely ineffectual (a point the author does not explicitly make) with citizens resorting to assault, arson, and rioting often and refusing to obey the king or his officers, and petty nobles taking the law into their own hands. This book is not without its longeurs, but is in places very interesting; the reader who seeks a comprehensive account of the treatment of Jews and Muslims in Spain, much less in the rest of Europe, will simply have to go elsewhere. One hopes that at least the author made full professor. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. History    2. History - General History    3. History: World    4. Medieval    5. Minority Studies - General    6. Cultural studies    7. European History    8. European history: c 500 to c 1500    9. History / Medieval    10. History of specific racial & ethnic groups    11. Jewish Studies    12. Racism & racial discrimination    13. Religion    14. Spain    15. Violence in society    16. c 1000 CE to c 1500   

Reviews (2)

Jealous
Jealous
Gone With The Wind
Tom's is a touching and layered story; both a personal bio and a history of New Orleans Jazz and its creators. Tom pulls back the veil and introduces us, in a very personal way, to both his family and biological father, and to the "mens" as his jazz fathers called themselves. A tale of passages; Tom's from childhood to manhood; the mens' passage on to the great second-line in the sky, and, finally, the passage of a way of life for a whole region possibly passed into only the memories of people fortunate enough to have lived it, and a few graying pages.It is a poignant story told well and sure to be loved by all readers. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography And Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Clarinetists    7. Discrimination & Racism    8. Editors, Journalists, Publishers    9. History and criticism    10. Jazz    11. Jazz musicians    12. Louisiana    13. New Orleans    14. Personal Memoirs    15. Race And Ethnic Relations    16. Regional Subjects - South    17. United States    18. Biography & Autobiography / General    19. Biography: general    20. Contemporary popular music    21. Social history   

Reviews (3)

Easily the best textbook on racial and ethnic relations
I first read this book my junior year of college when I took a sociology class titled "Racial and Ethnic Relations." I learned so much information from reading this book, and I recommend it to others who either teach college-level courses or who are writing research papers and need a good reference book. As an anthropologist, I am extremely critical of the way my field inadequately handles the scholarly study of racial/ethnic conflict - particularly anthropology's lack of a coherent theoretical framework for analysis of prejudice and discrimination. Fortunately, Marger introduces students to various psychological and social theories and does so without employing heavy, technical jargon. Another great aspect of this book is its cross-cultural examination of racial/ethnic relations in Brazil, Canada, Northern Ireland, and South Africa.
One of the best book of all times.
I have read this book and must say that Mr. Marger is brilliant.This book is fantastic if you want to learn about all races and ethnicities.I was so attached to this book each day that I read the material, it was very hard to place down, even for a second.I now have a clearer understanding and sincere respect for other races and cultures.

Greatest Professor A Student Could Have
I don't know much about this book, but I do know that Martin N. Marger is a class act tride and true. Had his class my freshman year at Michigan State University and really got a lot out of it. Great person ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Discrimination & Racism    2. Ethnic Studies - General    3. Ethnic relations    4. Race And Ethnic Relations    5. Race relations    6. Social Science    7. Sociology    8. Ethnography    9. Racism & racial discrimination   

Reviews (31)

A commemoration of ignorance, fear and truth
Even in a time of high technology horror movie imaging, that has most viewers numb to blood and gore and man's brutality and disrespect to fellow man, the images from this exhibition will shake you as hard as you have ever been shaken. Few people will have the "guts" to stomach more than a few images at a time.All persons, of all colours, from every nation should contemplate the emotion of ignorance, that causes the predujice and the horrendous consequences of hate, that produced the culture of lynching.
A Must for History Classes
This one book has managed to show that students are not getting even a bare minimum of African American history.My students constantly pick this book up and read or view the pages.
understanding is needed
We have to realize that the lynchers themselves were also victims of a racist society.It is vain to imagine that the police can do much about crime until we treat the root causes, and the lynchings shown in this this book most certainly were a crime.Unfortunately, not much can be done until we first we eliminate root causes such as racism and economic inequality.Until then, the occasional burglary, mugging or lynching is just something that we'll have to put up with.
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Subjects:  1. Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions    2. Discrimination & Racism    3. Documentary Photo Collections    4. Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - Histor    5. History    6. Lynching    7. Photo Essays    8. Photoessays & Documentaries    9. Photography    10. Pictorial works    11. Racism    12. Sociology    13. United States    14. Photographs: collections   

Reviews (6)

Beating Cultural Studies At Its Own Game And Laughing All The Way Up The Ivory Tower With Meticulous History
In American Babylon, Robert Self attempts to synthesize consistently isolated renderings of urban, suburban, white black, economic and sociocultural histories in postwar metropolitan development. He seeks to join the histories of "modernist city planning" with "politics and social struggle (9)." In doing so, he centers his study around three primary transitions, each roughly beginning in the New Deal era and reaching completion around the advent of Johnson's Great Society. First, the remaking the white labor movement into what he terms "conservative populism."Second, the remaking of progressive black labor and urban activism into black militarism, nationalism, and Maoism. Finally, the remaking of liberal state aid from infrastructure development to human development, from direct financial subsidy for low-income whites to mobilization against pathology for low-income blacks.
rigorous and accessible
I read American Babylon after hearing about it on the radio, and came away impressed with the author's ability to make a remarkably complex process - the interplay of surburban development, urban decline, racial politics, and civil rights - accessible to an amateur such as myself.The book lays out a persuasive explanation of why things are they way they are in Oakland, and by (my) extension in many urban areas around the country, including my own hometown of Brooklyn.In doing so it seems to me to be the best sort of historical analysis: rigorous, remarkably detailed, and carefully documented, but useful to the public at large.Highly recommended.

Brilliant history that should be read by political activists
Robert Self's "American Babylon: Race and the Struggle for Postwar Oakland" deserves the attention of grassroots political activists as much as academics. It is a brilliant analysis of the post-World War Two business strategy for Oakland, California and the boom (and boomerang to Oakland) in housing and jobs elsewhere in Alameda County that resulted. Self shows how the decline of Oakland was the other side of the coin in the creation of new communities in the open spaces nearby. He lays out the class and race contexts of the suburbanization process and shows the consequences for and responses by the labor movement and African Americans to the changes that were wrought. "American Babylon" thus provides, for example, an interesting account of the Black Panther Party. Finally, using this region in northern California as a case study, the book examines the origins of the anti-property tax movement, when the suburbs regime went sour. Since California is still embroiled over the same issues this book addresses -- taxes, urban revitalization, de-industrialization, racial equality, and the political and environmental impacts of suburban growth -- Robert Self's "American Babylon" could not be more timely. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Discrimination & Racism    2. Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - General    3. Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - Histor    4. History    5. History - General History    6. History - U.S.    7. History: American    8. Sociology    9. United States - 20th Century    10. United States - 20th Century (1945 to 2000)    11. United States - State & Local - West    12. American History    13. American history: postwar, from c 1945 -    14. California    15. Ethnic studies    16. History / United States / 20th Century    17. Human rights    18. Political Science and International Relations    19. Social history   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (12)

Superlative Overview and Introductory Book
My only claim to understanding Asian-American racism in the US is being a victim of it.I am no scholastic expert in the field, not even a closet scholar.My father immigrated from Taiwan.My mother suffered the indignity of the internment camps during WWII.But I didn't learn about my ethnicity, or racism, from them.Born in the US, I learned as many of my generation did- through experience.So from this perspective, Professor Wu has done a magnificent job of accomplishing two great tasks in a single, readable book: he has outlined a superb historical account of Asian-Americans in America with respect to racism, and effectively defined and explained the complex manifestation and quandaries of racial issues for Asian-Americans.
A Good Book, Even if It Doesn't Say Much That's New
I admit a love-hate relationship with books about Asian-American issues.Too often, they recycle the same points - the Yellow Peril, the Japanese-American internment, the Vincent Chin murder, the "model minority" myth, the L.A. riots - and, too often, they offer much discussion but little solution.Let's face it:we live in a nation founded by displaced Europeans and driven primarily by greed and marketplace.It's unlikely that anyone who doesn't fit easily into the mainstream can or will succeed fully, no matter having a claim to moral high ground.
A Monumental Tour de Force
This is an incredible eye-opener on the civil rights movement as it pertains to Asian Americans.Professor Wu covers the breadth of the Asian American movement, highlighting the immigration patterns of our forefathers from the Asian continent.He also delves into the civil rights issuesof not only the past, but the modern era as wel--such as affirmative action and the perpetual foreigner syndrome afflicting those of Asian descent. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Asian Americans    2. Asians In The U.S.    3. Civil rights    4. Discrimination & Racism    5. Ethnic Studies - Asian American Studies    6. Ethnic Studies - General    7. Minority Studies - Ethnic American    8. Minority Studies - Race Relations    9. Race And Ethnic Relations    10. Race identity    11. Social Science    12. Social conditions    13. Sociology    14. Multicultural studies    15. USA   

Reviews (2)

Happy
I have no concerns with the product and am happy with what I've paid for.

One of the better textbooks on American ethnic groups
All in all, I'd have to say that this is one of the better textbooks on the market today dealing with American ethnic groups (but that's not really saying much). My biggest critique with such textbooks is that, all to often, they engage in culturalist essentialism. Furthermore, it is often implied that all members of said group behave in this fashion and "practice" this culture. The obvious fallacy of such an approach is that it fails to acknowledge that ethnicity is an emergent (rather than primordial) phenomenon, and that culture changes over time.
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Subjects:  1. Discrimination & Racism    2. Ethnic Studies - General    3. Social Science    4. Sociology    5. Ethnic studies    6. Social Science / Sociology / General   

Editorial Review

Historian Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore examines an unfamiliar world in this groundbreaking study, the world of middle-class, educated black women at a time that was one of the nadirs of black-white relations in America. With the Supreme Court's affirmation of legal segregation, Southern black men found themselves disfranchised and excluded from politics. Black women filled that vacuum, Gilmore argues, making a place for themselves as ambassadors to the white community, and as activists on behalf of blacks, and bequeathing to their descendants a heritage of resistance that culminated in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Political and Economic Shaping of Gender

An innovative look at post-Reconstruction race relations
As Gilmore writes (p. 1) in Gender and Jim Crow, "since historians enter a story at its end, they sometimes forget that what is past to them was future to their subjects."And with regard to black optimism, potential and opportunities during Reconstruction, African American "subjects" looked forward to a future of encouraging possibilities, as African American males had real political power and influence within the Republican and populist parties, which courted their votes.These men and women believed that race as a social classification would decline in importance in favor of class.Yet just as the hopes of Agrarian radicals were thwarted by the harsh the realities of the two-party system, so too were the dreams of Reconstruction-era blacks crushed by the resurgence of white supremacy and the systematic attempts by whites to disenfranchise the Negro.Gilmore presents this tale of high hopes and shattered dreams in her first chapter, "Place and Possibility." Original, important, a tad romantic
Gilmore breaks new ground on many fronts that will interest social historians of race and political historians.She uncovers the myriad arenas in which black women and white women pursued "politics"outside the formal arenas of electoral institutions.She also reveals thesurprising coalitions formed across racial lines and the mindset of anupper-South State on the eve of disenfranchisement.Gilmore's writingflows smoothly, as other reviewers have noted, but at times becomesoverwrought and sentimentalized in a way that makes it sometimes tediousand sometimes aggravating to stay with the text.She's become captured abit by her characters and sources.But this is a small criticism in thecontext of an overwise pathbreaking study that's well worth the read. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. African American women    2. African Americans    3. Ethnic Studies - General    4. Gender Studies    5. History    6. History - General History    7. North Carolina    8. Political Freedom & Security - Civil Rights    9. Political History    10. Political activity    11. Social Science    12. Sociology    13. Suffrage    14. Women's Studies - General    15. 20th century    16. American history: c 1800 to c 1900    17. American history: from c 1900 -    18. Black studies    19. POLITICS & GOVERNMENT    20. Racism & racial discrimination    21. Social Science / Women's Studies    22. USA    23. Women's studies    24. c 1800 to c 1900    25. gender; women; American South; North Carolina; African American;   

Reviews (2)

Showing your race/sexual orientation/socioeconomic status/culture by the way you speak.
An interesting look at differences in language -- accent, vocabulary, and dialect. This book explores the judgements that people, even young children, make when they hear a voice. Well-rounded and very pragmatic about solutions. Doesn't just say 'Oh, people shouldn't judge each other.' Because, like it or not, we do.

Language and the Classroom
The Skin That We Speak, by Lisa Delpit, is a collection of essays written by various authors about the impact of language in the classroom.The author identifies the purpose of the book as the exploration of "the links between language and identity, between language and political hierarchy, and between language and cultural conflict."The book is divided into three sections starting with an individual inward look into languages, a examination of the consequences of language attitudes in the classroom, and finishes with a look at the language of teachers and what they need to know to become effective in the classroom.The author titled the book, The Skin That We Speak, because "just as our skin provides us with a means to negotiate our interactions with the world - our language plays an equally pivotal role in determining who we are."For each of us our language becomes intimately connected to our identity.
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Subjects:  1. Discrimination & Racism    2. Education    3. Education / Teaching    4. English Dialectology    5. Essays    6. Multicultural Education    7. Sociology Of Education    8. Dialectology    9. English    10. Multicultural studies    11. Sociology, Social Studies    12. Teaching of ethnic minorities   

Reviews (7)

Still Relevant Today
I read this book back in 1967, when I was a young teen, first entering high school.It made a profound impression upon my and life and was one of the reasons I choose my line of work.
USA Negro Blues:Only Important When Killed By Pale Racism?
When will dark/pale "Marxist/Lenninist/Maoist" social scientist turn their intellectual lens on the 700,000 USA Negro citizens executed between 1900 to 2000 by Black Redneck Criminal Predator terrorists?
The basis of Black Rage
Ralph Ginzburg in this historic book show that African-Americans are justified in their fear of White America. The graphic details of lynchings show how racism can make peopledo to their fellow man. Anyone who wants to understand the roots of Black Nationalism should read this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Blacks In The U.S.    2. Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - General    3. Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - Histor    4. General    5. History: American    6. Lynching    7. Minority Studies - Race Relations    8. Race relations    9. Social Science    10. Sociology    11. United States    12. History of specific racial & ethnic groups    13. Racism & racial discrimination    14. True crime    15. USA   

Subjects:  1. Anthropology - Cultural    2. Archaeology / Anthropology    3. Discrimination & Racism    4. Ethnicity    5. Ethnology    6. Minorities    7. Minority Studies - General    8. Multicultural Education    9. Multiculturalism    10. North America    11. Social Science    12. Sociology    13. Sociology - General    14. Education / Multicultural Education    15. Ethnic studies    16. Racism & racial discrimination    17. Social & cultural anthropology    18. Sociology, Social Studies