Race Matters by Cornel West
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Book Reviews of Race Matters
Book Review: Excellent, brief overview of why race matters
Summary: 4 Stars
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.Book Review: Race Matters Review
Summary: 4 Stars
I had to have this book for a Philosophy class that I was taking, it has a lot of insight into the experience of Black people in America as Americans and I think it does a wonderful job at capturing what was going on during that time period.Book Review: Not an academic book, full of conjecture; not useless but could have been much more with citations
Summary: 2 Stars
The first thing to note about this book is the lack of any footnotes or bibliography; interesting for a book written by a PhD. While I do not disagree with many of the points Dr. West makes, they are nothing more than statements and personal philosophy without citations offering examples or substantiations. For example "The new black conservatives claim that transfer payments to the black needy engender a mentality of dependence which undercuts the value of self-reliance and of the solidity of the black poor family." No name of any black conservative who said something to this effect is offered, and I could write dozens of examples of statements like this throughout the book, all lacking bibliographical substantiation. This book also seems to me to be an overview, and West makes many statements in passing, rarely examining them in depth, leaving me to wonder about how he has drawn many of his conclusions, hence making this book conjectural.
Again, I believe Dr. West makes some interesting points, and race is an important subject for America to discuss and face, but if you read this book, realize that the aforementioned reasons make it nothing more than unsubstantiated personal philosophy and opinion. My intention is not to necessarily delegitimize any of the points Dr. West makes, nor to quell any intelligent discourse about racial issues in America; this is a very important topic with substantial consequences for and effects on American society. Specific evidence and examples to substantiate thoughtfully researched topics, and at minimum a select bibliography are among the main foundations of an academic work, and this book fails to meet these criteria.
Book Review: Judge Me By The Content Of My Character Please
Summary: 1 Stars
MLK was a republican because how could he have been anything else but one, without having been insane. He grew up in a segrated South that had had lost the civil war started by Democrats (the party of slavery by the way - check their platform) controlled by a Democrat party that voted against the 13th and 14th amendments, a party that created the jim crow laws, manned the KKK, voted against Eisenhowers civil rights in the 1950's (JFK and Gores daddy voted against it, check the federal register if you don't believe me) and then again voted in the majority against the civil rights act in the 1960's.
The question is not what I have done to you Mr. West but what the Democrats have done to you and why African AMericans refuse to recognize it, instead embracing their masters, defilers and historic arch enemies while demonizing those who bled for your freedom and your rights.
If you write a book on race and fail to ask the questions as to this cultural psychosis you have to question the motives of the author as well as his scholastic abilities. You do write well but it was indeed painful to read through the omissions.
Book Review: Ivy League Charlatan
Summary: 1 Stars
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.