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Race Matters
Race Matters
Author: Cornel West
Publisher: Beacon Press
Category: Book

List Price: $20.00
Buy New: $12.39
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Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars 65 reviews
Sales Rank: 31796

Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 108
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 6.3 x 0.7

ISBN: 0807009725
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.800973
UPC: 046442009720
EAN: 9780807009727
ASIN: 0807009725

Publication Date: May 25, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: INTERNATIONL SHIPPING!!! SHIPS from 5 locations based on your Zip Code and availability! (PA TN IN OR SC) *-* Gift Quality *-* Orders Processed Immediately! - We get your book to you Very Quickly!

Also Available In:

  • Audio Download - Race Matters (Unabridged)
  • Paperback - Race Matters
  • Hardcover - RACE MATTERS
  • Audio Cassette - Race Matters (Audio Editions)

Similar Items:

  • Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism
  • The Souls of Black Folk (Dover Thrift Editions)
  • The Covenant with Black America
  • The Mis-Education of the Negro (An African American Heritage Book)
  • The Cornel West Reader

Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
First published in 1993 on the one-year anniversary of the L.A. riots, Race Matters has since become an American classic. Beacon Press is proud to present this hardcover edition with a new introduction by Cornel West. The issues that it addresses are as controversial and urgent as before, and West's insights remain fresh, exciting, and timely. Now more than ever, Race Matters is a book for all Americans?one that will help us build a genuine multiracial democracy.


Customer Reviews:   Read 60 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars Points of view matter   November 8, 2008
During the Clarence Thomas appointment, Thomas appealed to racial victimization to secure his place at the expense of his sister and Anita Hill. Black leaders were caught off-base. In the post-Civil Rights era there is a lack of authentic Black Anger among political leaders. There are a number of managerial leaders. Race-transcending prophetic leaders are rare. Black intellectual leadership is cynical, ironic. Black conservatism is a reaction to the crisis in liberalism. West's arguments are taut, interesting.


4 out of 5 stars Excellent, brief overview of why race matters   October 28, 2008
Cornel West's early 90s book still can be read today with great profit. He discusses the problems of racial injustice in vivid, succinct detail, and illustrates the failures of both liberals and conservative in response to the problems facing the black community (most immediately). He indicates that the "Prophetic perspective" would be better, but might have made fuller description of what the perspective entails, and what solutions to real and nagging problems we might find. He justifiably exalts Malcolm X, but too much so at the expense of Martin Luther King Jr. Overall, however, a well-written and illuminating book.


5 out of 5 stars Exploring Race Relations in the USA   February 27, 2008
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I didn't know Clarence Thomas was despised by many, until I read this book in 1997. I always assumed Thomas was a serious scholar of the law, until Dr. West painted a rather unflattering picture of the Supreme Court Justice. He describes Thomas as unqualified, lazy, callous, ignorant, selfish, and to sum up, Thomas is the "token Black guy" on the Supreme Court.

Dr. West goes into detail about his views on the Crown Heights Riots and why he believes the rioters were tolerated. He doesn't take sides or justify anything; rather he looks for the causes and the facts as they are. He lays bare the sad details of race relations and leaves the reader to decide. Dr. West can really tell is like it is!

But there's a sad irony.

Dr. West has become just like the people he despises. His conflict with Lawrence Summers shows that he's become a selfish, publicity-hungry showman who wants to use his color as an excuse. Calling his boss the "Ariel Sharon of higher education" doesn't bug me because I'm a Jew (I'm used to left-wing radicals using Israel as a metaphor for evil), it bugs me because instead of admitting he made a mistake, he defames his boss as being un-academic. Instead of saying "brothers and sisters, I have been neglecting my writing and giving out too many A's," he blames it on racism.

On the other hand, everyone is entitled to make at least one mistake. But I hope Dr. West will realize that while sad things have happened in the history of the USA, we are evolving for improvement. Racist laws have been overturned, careers that were once closed are now integrated, and the over-empowerment of the President in the post-9/11 age shows that liberty is something that we'll always be fighting for.

The first step in the fight for liberty and equality is the freedom to express our views. I look forward to reading more of Dr. West's work in the future.



5 out of 5 stars Race still defines America   November 12, 2007
 1 out of 2 found this review helpful

I just read this book and it got a lot of good information about it such as the names of black scholars and leaders that I had never heard of before and teachings of Malcolm X. The analysis of black anti-semitism and black nihilism was also very interesting. I intend to read more of his works in the future.


1 out of 5 stars Ivy League Charlatan   November 10, 2007
 4 out of 12 found this review helpful

Cornell West is a charlatan and this book, like all the rest of his work, is little more than a collection of biased opinions unsupported by logic or information. While most blacks have achieved middle class status in the past 30 years, West sees only those who are mired in poverty and crime. And those, he thinks, are pure victims of "racism". It does not occur to West that a person with a criminal record, a bad attitude, and a poor education - is unlikely to succeed regardless of his color. If America were really as racist as West imagines, how does he explain his own amazing success - for surely his success is amazing. How many men get paid the money that Cornell West is paid - and that for "mouthing off" about his favorite hobby-horses? Larry Summers chided West for his total lack of scholarship. This book proves that Summers was absolutely right.

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