The Cornel West Reader
by Cornel West
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Book Summary Information
Author: Cornel WestEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2000-08
ISBN: 0465091105
Number of pages: 624
Publisher: Basic Civitas Books
Book Reviews of The Cornel West Reader
Book Review: To be Human, Modern, and American means...?
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is a tour de force, a virtual Kamikazee attack, a guerilla assault on the lazy or indifferent American progressive intellect.
Self-described "Chekhovian Christian," Public Philosopher, Cultural and Literary Critique, Christian Minister, Democratic Socialist, Radical Democrat, and Princeton Professor, Cornel West uses this book to extend his existential journey into better understanding (and as a partial response to), what he sees as the deep and unnecessary misery and suffering seen in the richest culture in the world. He does this by exploring the intellectual and existential resources needed to continue to feed our courage for the fight over the long-haul towards achieving real democracy.
Much of his quest is directed at answering three basic questions: What does it mean in a radically contingent and fragile world to be: human, modern, and American?
West answer those questions in the following way:
To be human means: enduring with dignity and honesty the existential incongruities and sufferings of life, including the inevitability of death -- and still being able to maintain the courage to continue the battle for a separate identity, freedom and equality.
To be modern is to: have the courage to use one's intelligence to first see and then engage in a conscious and constructive process of questioning and challenging the prevailing authorities, powers and hierarchies of the society. It means not giving in to the easy certainties of ideologies and false prophecies; and being ever conscious of the modalities of self-making and the self-creating possibilities of those who suffer.
To be American means to: be consciously engaged in a fragile experiment in which democratic dialogue sits precariously at the center of all self-making and self-creating projects -- projects that with sufficient energy, self-reliance, boldness and restlessness, can open up vast possibilities for those truly committed to democratic principles. It is to have unrestrained hope for a future that can transcend any troubled past; yet it also means living side-by-side with pervasive mendacity, cruel contradictions, and stage-managed hypocrisy. To be American is to raise (but leave unanswered) the most frightening of democratic questions: What does the public interest have to do with the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our society?
And this is just for starters.
In explaining how he came to this mature intellectual and existential perspective, West chronicles his intellectual and spiritual development, and here there are many surprises. One cannot safely tuck West into any old box with the familiar labels: Christian, Black, Marxist, Public Intellectual, etc., for he is not only careful but has come to his development though hard work, insight and deeply felt human awareness. Calling himself a Chekhovian Christian is no accident any more than calling himself a Democratic Socialist, or a Radical Democrat, is. These things are not only what he embraces but are also who he is. But, whether intentional or not, they also serve to "distance" him from the normal categories these labels typically apply to.
For instance, a Chekhovian Christian cannot be confused with those who use the Christian label as a "get-out-hell free card," and as a way to immunize themselves against the "sins of others." Being a Chekhovian Christian is refusing to be imprisoned and walled-in by intentionally inflicted misery. It is to wake up each day with a new strategy for survival.
Being a "Democratic socialist;" again is not just a knee-jerk ideological label but is the result of a status carefully cultivated and carved out by West after traveling a difficult and precarious intellectual path to a clearing somewhere in the middle of a vast Marxist intellectual dessert. His Marxism is in fact as much a reinterpretation of Marx's on ethical teachings, as it is traditional Marxism. The areas upon which West's Marxism ideas are based, are so obscure and profound that most everyday card-carrying Marxists have never heard of them.
And of course, his designation of being a Radical Democrat, is arrived at by simply transposing the label of the pre-Reconstruction Radical Republicans, to today's under-Radicalized Democrats, which not only are not radical, but are card-carrying "Lite Republicans."
All of what I have reviewed so far gets one up to about page 11, and already I feel like I could pass a Phd orals in Philosophy, Sociology, Political Science, Social Theory, and Literary Criticism.
There are not enough stars in the universe to evaluate and properly judge this book.
Amen.
Summary of The Cornel West Reader
Cornel West is one of the nation?s premier public intellectuals and one of the great prophetic voices of our era. Whether he is writing a scholarly book or an article for Newsweek, whether he is speaking of Emerson, Gramsci, or Marvin Gaye, his work radiates a passion that reflects the rich traditions he draws on and weaves togetherÑBaptist preaching, American transcendentalism, jazz, radical politics. This anthology reveals the dazzling range of West?s work, from his explorations of ?Prophetic Pragmatism? to his philosophizing on hip-hop.The Cornel West Reader traces the development of West?s extraordinary career as academic, public intellectual, and activist. In his essays, articles, books, and interviews, West emerges as America?s social conscience, urging attention to complicated issues of racial and economic justice, sexuality and gender, history and politics. This collection represents the best work of an always compelling, often controversial, and absolutely essential philosopher of the modern American experience.
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