Book Description
In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man—has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey—first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his father’s life, and at last reconciles his divided inheritance.
Customer Reviews:
warning.......2007-10-09
great read, but once you're done there's no way you could look at this man the same way again.
"PT 109" for the 21st Century.......2007-10-08
As my readers will know, I am a tough critic, but I can find precious little about "Dreams from my Father" to criticize. Of course, the book will not appeal to those who don't care about race in America, or who have extremely fixed ideas about the subject. I like to think though that the majority of the reading public at least (if not the general public) are both engaged with and to some extent open-minded about our nation's central bugaboo/crisis/character flaw.
An editorial review mentioned that Obama's mother is almost absent from the book. To some extent he may have taken her somewhat for granted -- unlike his father or himself, he always had a good idea who she was and what she was about. In the preface to this edition, Obama mentions that she has died of cancer between the original publication and his nomination for U. S. Senate from Illinois, and that if he had known she would not be around to see that, he might have written a different book, spending more time hailing her for having stood by him. In the introduction to the first edition (written in 1995), he admits that he can't speak for everyone in the world. This is the most ironic part of the book, since it was only a year after that that he first ran for the Illinois state legislature. Thereafter, he has increasingly been compelled to try to do just that.
Although finding oneself has become a cliche, especially in the literary world, it was Barack Obama's mission for the first thirty years of his life. Defined as a black man, he sought to make his race more than a social construct, but something central and ineffable, and at the same time not cut off his ties to the rest of humanity, particularly his white mother and grandparents. He doesn't take his mother completely for granted -- he spends thirty to fifty pages talking about her background and that of her parents, who moved from Kansas to Hawaii, seeing it as the last frontier, when she was about to start college. Another one hundred pages or so explore his life with them in Hawaii (with a short stint in Indonesia, where his mother married a man who had studied in America and gave birth to Obama's half-sister Maya).
Readers of any race will be overwhelmed by the sheer power of Obama's writing. I choked up reading this several times. That is ultimately the best reason to read it, not the fact that Barack Obama has become a serious candidate for the presidency. This book also helps you figure out how he did that. The only thing he feels more keenly than his own hopes and fears are the hopes and fears of everyone around him. At the end of the book, having learned the whole story of his father's and grandfather's lives, he stands over their graves and weeps, feeling what they must have felt at each turning point of their lives. Although Obama is quintessentially American, I somehow would not be surprised, given the epiphany he had there, if he chose upon his death to be buried in Kenya alongside them. But perhaps my sympathy is making me romanticize the man.
This book leaves me with two regrets and one big hope. First, it is probably unfilmable. Second, there is one man running with even more vision and courage than Barack Obama, so I won't be able to vote for him in the primary election (although I will in the general if he is the candidate). My big hope is that Obama will write a third book in 2017, having waited eleven years between books as he did between his first and second, that will combine the autobiography he did with this book and the political manifesto he did with "The Audacity of Hope" (a phrase which you have to read "Dreams from my Father" to know Obama doesn't take credit for). Although I haven't finished the latter book, there is basically no way it could top this one. I give it my highest recommendation.
Moving, eloquent and inspirational..........2007-09-26
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama is a moving, eloquent and honest book that was originally published in 1995. This is an amazing story, and not just because he is a presidential candidate. Although autobiographical in scope, it is not intended to be a complete history of the author's life. Instead, it is "a boy's search for his father."
Barack Obama had a most unusual childhood. His mother was a white American living in Hawaii. His father, Barack Obama Sr., was a brilliant black Kenyan who received a college scholarship to the University of Hawaii. When Obama was two, his father graduated college and received a scholarship to obtain his PhD at Harvard. Unfortunately, the scholarship did not include living expenses for his family, and this proved the end of the marriage. After that, Obama only saw his father one more time before being killed in an auto accident when Obama was 21. Obama's mother subsequently married a man from Indoesia, where Obama lived for several years. But that marriage also ended and Obama returned to Hawaii to live with his grandparents. Dreams from My Father also includes Obama's college experiences, as well as the work he did as an organizer in Chicago.
The most moving part of Dreams from My Father involves his trip to Kenya for the first time several years after his father died. As a youth, he describes the reaction of others when they discover his background "Privately, they guess at my troubled heart, I supposed--the mixed blood, the divided soul, the ghostly image of a tragic mulatto trapped between two worlds." In Kenya, he meets his African family including grandparents, half-brothers and sisters, step-mothers, aunts, uncles and cousins. At the Kenyan airport, an airport employee recognizes his name and knew his father. "For the first time in my life, I felt the comfort, the firmness of identity that a name might provide, how it could carry an entire history in other people's memories...My name belonged and so I belonged." I was also moved by Obama's discovery of faith.
Even if Obama was not a presidential candidate for the 2008 election, Dreams is still an eloquent and inspirational story about his search for his father and his efforts to reconcile the histories of this white and black families.
A worthy memoir of Obama's complicated early life.......2007-09-06
Due to its multi-section arrangement, falling into three precise stages, this book feels like a well-paced coming-of-age novel, an impression buoyed by the fact that, to a degree that is unusual for politicians, Obama can actually write well. If you are looking for information on what policies Obama would support as a presidential candidate, you should look elsewhere. However, the book does give the impression that the writer is unusually forthright, both about himself and his beliefs.
Watching Obama's attitudes on race evolve is one of the key points of interest in the book, and the reader comes away with a picture of a man who is both reflective and self-critical. It is somewhat apparent that the author was not running for office at the time the book was written, and yes, it (very briefly) mentions his now infamous flirtation with cocaine use. However, if you want to read a portrait of the man, if not his political platform, and interested in the struggles of someone growing up in between two different cultures, this book is well worth reading.
just great.......2007-08-17
Obama wrote his memoirs of his growing up some years ago (and with his political career I expect he'll be writing them again in twenty or so years). It is an honest book about a remarkable man who had a remarkable life. Nothing political about it.
Customer Reviews:
One of the best intros to DC politics and Marion Barry.......2005-07-13
The Barry era was more than just the grainy footage in the hotel room, and Jaffe does an excellent job of recounting the hope and promise that many Washingtonians held when Barry was first elected Mayor as part of an grassroots coalition of low-income blacks, liberal whites and a growing gay and lesbian community and how badly that promise was betrayed.
There is no doubt the 80's were an awful time for DC. Crack, violence and economic abandonment by the middle class, nearly killed DC. Most major urban centers faced similar problems in the 80's thanks to Reaganism and white flight but Jaffe clearly documents Barry's inability to anything besides compound the problems faced by DC through financial irresponsibility(largely due to patronage) incompetent and criminal staff and Barry's growing personal addictions to drug and sex. He documents Barry's failings without demonizing him or resorting to the disguised racism of many of Barry's detractors.
It should be added that Barry was recently elected back onto City Council, representing the nearly all black and poverty stricken Ward 8. Many outside DC couldn't believe that DC residents would want this guy back on the City Council, but those folks don't know Ward 8 or Barry's appeal. While DC is booming economically, Ward 8 continued to be ignored by the rest of the city and the Mayor. By voting for Barry against a Mayoral ally, Ward 8 was warning the rest of the city that they will not be ignored.
Good look at a complicated city.......2005-03-01
The urban problems of Washington D.C. are laid bare with some wonderful historical perspective. This is a city where the normal municipal politics (race, poverty, patronage) are complicated by the national politics that weild a veto power over this city.
This book easily could have been an unreadable tome, but the authors did a great job of keeping the book moving and putting the charachters in proper perspective.
A must read for those involved in city politics.......2000-12-26
Fascinating read. Great background.
Needs a Sequel.......2000-10-14
"Dream City" compares with Mike Royko's "Boss" as an excellent expose on urban politics. But while Royko's protagonist, Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago, at least had his city's best interests in mind despite the shortcomings of his political machine, Marion Barry only cared about one thing, Marion Barry. That this vulture perpetuated his own power on the backs of the powerless who were his strongest supporters is sickening and fascinating at the same time. "Dream City" was published in 1994, right before the leech Barry returned to the Mayor's office to do four more years of damage to the capital city. Under Daley, Chicago was "The City That Works." Under Barry, DC was the city that didn't.
Will the real Marion Barry please stand up.......1999-12-15
This fascinating book about the current state and recent history of our nation's capital focuses largely on the story of Marion Barry, who was, when the book was written, both a once and future mayor of the city. How much blame Barry must shoulder for the city's social and economic problems is a question that remains to be answered, but the detail provided by the authors, both journalists with long experience of the city and its politics, offers fascinating glimpses into the reality behind the mask. One story alone is worth the price of the book: Marion Barry, who has long tried to identify with the city's most downtrodden, at one time (when he first went into politics) hired an exconvict to teach him how to 'talk street' so that he wouldn't sound too educated (he has an M.S. in Chemistry and was working on a Ph. D. when he became involved in the civil rights movement - not the Marion Barry I thought I knew).
This is a fascinating book. A bit out of date now, but containing material I have not seen anywhere else that helps explain some of the very bad times D.C. has experienced in the last few decades.
Amazon.com
Shelby Steele's first book, The Content of Our Character, sparked outrage over its indictment of liberal American policies and attitudes towards race. A Dream Deferred expands Steele's critique, comparing government interventions (like affirmative action) to the most damaging practices of slavery and segregation, Soviet Communism, and Nazi Germany.
While Steele zealously praises civil rights victories, terming the movement that effected them "the greatest nonviolent revolution in American history (one of the greatest in all history)," he concludes that a simultaneous outcome--the stigmatization of whiteness--has led to disaster. Shamed whites try to prove their innocence through redemptive acts, according to Steele, and he has always disdained the "moral self-preoccupation" of post-'60s white liberals, which "made them dangerous to blacks--ready to give them over to an 'otherness' in which nothing is expected of them."
Steele, a self-described black conservative, complains, "The great ingenuity of interventions like affirmative action has not been that they give Americans a way to identify with the struggle of blacks, but that they give them a way to identify with racial virtuousness quite apart from blacks." He contends that victimization is the greatest hindrance for black Americans: while white liberals see blacks as victims to assuage guilty consciences, blacks parlay their status as victims into a currency that turns out to have no long-term buying power. Steele's conclusion: the only way for blacks to stop buying into this zero-sum game is to adopt a culture of excellence and achievement untrammeled by set-asides and entitlements. --Lise Funderburg
Book Description
From the author of the award-winning bestseller The Content of Our Character comes a new essay collection that tells the untold story behind the polarized racial politics in America today. In A Dream Deferred Shelby Steele argues that a second betrayal of black freedom in the United States--the first one being segregation--emerged from the civil rights era when the country was overtaken by a powerful impulse to redeem itself from racial shame. According to Steele,1960s liberalism had as its first and all-consuming goal the expiation of America guilt rather than the careful development of true equality between the races. This "culture of preference" betrayed America's best principles in order to give whites and America institutions an iconography of racial virtue they could use against the stigma of racial shame. In four densely argued essays, Steele takes on the familiar questions of affirmative action, multiculturalism, diversity, Afro-centrism, group preferences, victimization--and what he deems to be the atavistic powers of race, ethnicity, and gender, the original causes of oppression. A Dream Deferred is an honest, courageous look at the perplexing dilemma of race and democracy in the United States--and what we might do to resolve it.
Customer Reviews:
Thought provoking.......2007-09-13
This book is an excellent sequel to "The Content of our Character". While repetitive at times, the essays contained in the book are a welcome departure from the political correctness that is force fed into us by the mainstream media.
Dream becomes nightmare of white power.......2006-06-26
Another great book by an intelligent observer of the hopes and failures of the civil rights movement for blacks, run mostly by whites with lots of hidden agendas and feelings of guilt.
Powerful and nuanced essays on an important subject.......2003-02-21
"Discussions about race" is almost an oxymoron. The positions most people hold are already fixed and there isn't much of the ability to hear the other side that is required to have a true discussion. Too often we simply look for writings and speeches that support our pre-existing notions, praise them as we find them, and think to ourselves, "If only the other side would just see as clearly as I and this author do this problem would not exist!" Or we find an author with whom we disagree and attack him so fiercely because we somehow feel that if we can debase the author we can debase the view with which we disagree.
Shelby Steele has been misused in both those ways. He has chosen a hard road because he writes sincere, thoughtful, and passionate essays that do not merely support or oppose widely held beliefs. Yes, he is attacked as if he were merely a water carrier for the GOP or praised as if all he were about were attacking affirmative action. He is far more subtle than this! Please take the time to read him carefully because there is so much more to gain from his writing, whether or not you end up agreeing with him.
This book consists of one very long and three shorter essays. I hate to summarize the ideas in the essay because they are more thoughtful than any summary I can give and the mere mention of the subjects involved will likely provoke a polarized response to a position already held. What I will say is that if you force yourself to put aside your already firmly held views ad read these wonderful essays with an open mind, you can find insights that can move you to new thinking and attitudes.
The best advice I can give you is to look for how he is challenging your presently held views rather than only noticing how he is challenging those with whom you already disagree. No matter which part of the political spectrum you currently inhabit, you will find a great deal of challenging and edifying writing here that will provide very nutritious food for thought on this important and sadly painful topic.
Read this book - a great way to celebrate ML King Day.......2003-01-20
"A Dream Deferred" is imperative reading for anyone wrestling with the issue of the justice of racial preferences. While Steele believes that racial preferences defy the best democratic principles of our country, this book reaches more profoundly than that argument. Steele offers a powerful analysis of why racial politics remain so compelling, even as their practical effect is to work against their purported goal of freedom and equality. He argues that today's racial politics are the product of a "redemptive liberalism" born in the 1960's out of white America's newfound shame and desperate need to expiate it. This redemptive liberalism kindled a "grievance elite", with whom they struck the bargain of racial preferences, simultaneously providing redemption (largely symbolic) for white America and power (largely symbolic) for the grievance elite. Unfortunately, the policies arising from this bargain are necessarily iconographic rather than truly effective. Worse than that, the dynamics of the resulting racial politics put the appearance of racial virtue at such a premium that principles are sacrificed (the very principles that could foster an actual solution), and critics are a priori denied any moral authority to criticize. Groups formed to address once-legitimate grievances too easily become institutions whose continued self-interest depends on suppressing their members as individuals, and in perpetuating the grievances they are meant to address. Along the way, Steele suggests some interesting parallels to the rise of Soviet communism and Nazi Germany, and makes some interesting distinctions between FDR-style liberal politics and post-sixties liberal politics. He ultimately broadens his analysis to find that the success of racial identity politics has inspired the spread of a whole market in redemption for any group that can claim to be aggrieved. This enlightening diagnosis rings all too true.
Part II of CONTENT OF OUR CHARACTER.......2001-12-10
If you read THE CONTENT OF OUR CHARACTER, you're likely to think that A DREAM DEFERRED is published by the Department of Redundancy Department. Yes, there is no doubt that A DREAM DEFERRED is an elaboration of THE CONTENT OF OUR CHARACTER. However, I for one, have not tired of Steele's central thesis. In addition, Steele is a brilliant writer. I never tire of good writing.
A DREAM DEFERRED reminds me of a rather poignant experience I had with an Ohio State University doctoral student. Three of us were sitting together over some coffee. Two of us were white male graduates, while the third was a Native American graduate student. He lamented the racial discrimination he faced with one particular professor. My colleague and I were quite distressed with the comments from this young man. We had some power and could do something about this unsavory situation. With some prodding, the young man eventually told us who the professor was. Upon hearing the name, puzzlement came over our faces, then a smirk. We were both familiar with the professor in question. He was terse, pompous and arrogant - all common characteristics of doctoral faculty. However, he was NOT a racist. We were able to convince the young man that his experience was not racially motivated but rather the professor was simply a jerk. No, he wasn't a racist; he merely treated everyone like trash.
A DREAM DEFERRED provides the basis for whites to understand the predicament faced by many minorities. They have difficulty distinguishing between social activities that are racially motivated and social activities that emerge as stressful but have no elements of racial bias. Steele suggests that whites must stand firm. Funny thing is -- Steele is well aware that most white will not follow his directions. African Americans must take the lead.
Average customer rating:
- A. D. Tarbox, Freelance Reviewer for Midwest Book Review
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Iditarod Dream: Dusty and His Sled Dogs Compete in Alaska's Jr. Iditarod
Ted Wood
Manufacturer: Walker Books for Young Readers
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ASIN: 0802775357 |
Book Description
Relates the story of the fifteen-year-old Alaskan boy and his dogs as they prepare for and then run the 158-mile course of the Junior Iditarod Race.
Customer Reviews:
A. D. Tarbox, Freelance Reviewer for Midwest Book Review.......2006-01-06
I chose this book because I wanted to know more about sled dog racing. Wood does a wonderful job with photographs and text to tell the story of Dusty, a high schooler, and his sled dogs getting ready to race in the Jr. Iditarod in Alaska. This book is great for 8-12 year olds but adults will like it too.
A. D. Tarbox, author of ALREADY ASLEEP (October 2006)
Book Description
Published for the fiftieth anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education: If "separate, but equal" has been illegal for fifty years, why is America more segregated than ever?
On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously declared that separate educational facilities for blacks and whites are inherently "unequal" and, as such, violate the 14th Amendment. The landmark decision, Brown v. Board of Education, sounded the death knell for legal segregation, but fifty years later, de facto segregation in America thrives. And Sheryll Cashin believes that it is getting worse.
The Failures of Integration is a provocative look at how segregation by race and class is ruining American democracy. Only a small minority of the affluent are truly living the American Dream, complete with attractive, job-rich suburbs, reasonably low taxes, good public schools, and little violent crime. For the remaining majority of Americans, segregation comes with stratospheric costs. In a society that sets up "winner" and "loser" communities and schools defined by race and class, racial minorities in particular are locked out of the "winner" column. African-Americans bear the heaviest burden. Cashin argues that we need a transformation-a jettisoning of the now ingrained assumption that separation is acceptable-in order to solve the riddle of inequality in America. Our public policy choices must be premised on an integrationist vision if we are to achieve our highest aspiration and pursue the dream that America says it embraces: full and equal opportunity for all.
Customer Reviews:
this book changed my life and my housing choices.......2007-09-01
As a "middle class white male" with little first-hand understanding of the real/unique challenges continually facing black Americans, this book literally haunted me for 3 years. I eventually changed my choice regarding the neighborhood I live in and the public schools my children attend.
What Rick fails to understand in his recent review is that there is well established evidence that blacks are at a unique disadvantage based on the housing choices and preferences of all other racial/ethnic groups. The separation along the lines of race and class is uniquely poisonous to blacks living in areas of concentrated poverty. While Mrs. Cashin might not explore that evidence in detail, she certainly is aware of it. To acquire a more complete understanding of the vast sum of evidence regarding the unique challenges faced by blacks in America's real estate market, try reading the following book:
The Geography Of Opportunity: Race And Housing Choice In Metropolitan America (James A. Johnson Metro Series)
This book will reveal subtle thinking patterns exercised by people of various racial/ethnic backgrounds and how those thought processes help perpetuate the separation we see along the lines of race and class in our country. There is also compelling evidence (based on well designed longitudinal studies) that shows improved outcomes for black Americans who are removed from areas of concentrated poverty. The evidence is overwhelming for those of us who choose to seek it and fully understand its implications.
Some interesting facts; analysis is lame.......2007-03-15
I read this book after reading American Apartheid, which I thought was superb and very thought provoking. I wanted to get an update on the subject. I wanted to read about how things have changed in the last few decades, and I also wanted to get some ideas on how we might improve things further.
Sheryl Cashin is a professor of law in Washington, D.C. She puts a good deal of herself into her writing, and she certainly comes across as a nice, caring and involved person. You get the sense that she very sincerely wants to improve America.
She does give some interesting factual stories. I found it fascinating to read about the growth in the new black middle class suburbs which have grown up around many of our cities. I am somewhat aware of that, from my own city, but I had not read about it before, as a general thing. She gives alot of details about how the black suburbs in some ways are a great improvement for their residents, and in other ways are not.
Her analysis, however, is inferior. She is clinging to a theory that makes no sense, even to her. Her theory is that: (1) we have to have integration, meaning mixed race neighborhoods, all over America or all sorts of problems will continue; and (2) we do not have integration, because of white racism.
She makes no good argument for point (1). WHY do the races have to be mixed together? What is so wrong with the black middle class living in black middle class areas? Who does that hurt? How is it any different, or any worse, than Orthodox Jews living together, Hispanics living together, Chinatown, Koreatown or any of the dozens of other areas of ethnic concentrations. Alot of people like to live this way. So what? Why is this harmful? (I live in a very mixed area. I am white. One of my next door neighbors is a Persian Jew. The others are a Mexican American family. The public school which my kids go to is majority minority. So, none of this is a personal thing.)
Professor Cashin does discuss these issues, but her analysis makes no sense. She shows us various black upper middle class suburbs. She shows that their schools are still below par, and that they have other problems. She argues that, even upper middle class blacks will never really solve their problems, until they live in integrated neighborhoods.
Sorry, but this makes no sense. Take a look at John Ogbu's Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb. He studies the performance of upper middle class black students in one of the best integrated public schools in the United States, those in Shaker Heights. These kids have more or less the same problems that the ones which Cashin describes has. The problems are not solved by putting the kids into a predominantly white environment.
As for point (2), that white racism has destroyed integration, it is offensive and it is not true. Cashin herself proves this. She tells the story of when she first bought a home. She could have purchased in a mixed neighborhood. She found, however, that she was just more comfortable surrounded with her own kind, so she bought in a black neighborhood. I have no problem with Professior Cashin, the human being, deciding to live with her own racial group. I take a good deal of offense at Profeesior Cashin the analyst, however, telling me that the reason we do not have integration is that people like me do not want to live with people like her.
She knows this is not true, because in her own life she made the decision not to live in an integrated area.
She cites the survey evidence which proves that almost no one really wants black-white integration. As she cites, if you ask, in the abstract, do you favor integration, pretty much everyone says "yes." If you ask, more particularly, what sort of neighborhood are you comfortable living in, whites say they are not comfortable living in a neighborhood where more than about one-third of the population is black. Blacks, on the other hand, say that they are not comfortable living in an area unless at least about 50% are black.
What do these numbers tell us? They tell us that no one wants to live in an area where he or she is part of a small minority; it makes us uncomfortable to have the other group be a huge majority on our own turf. This conclusion should surprise no one; it is simple human nature.
But Cashin, for some reason, runs away with the idea that these numbers prove that blacks want integration and whites do not. Excuse me, professor, but that is nonsense. Blacks are 15% of the American population. When blacks say that they want a neighborhood which is 50% or more black, they are saying that they are not happy unless in an area which has more than three times the average number of their own kind. They are NOT happy with a level of integration which reflects the American norm. Whites, on the other hand, at least tell pollsters that they would be happy with a neighborhood which had the national average racial distribution.
I find nothing odd about this. I have no problem with blacks wanting to live with each other. But do not tell me that whites are racist, while blacks are not, when the numbers prove that neither side wants to live as a minority.
I by no means think that the problems of black America are solved. They are not. As long as we have four year olds being shot by drive by gang-bangers, I do not think we have reached the Promised Land. However, (1) things have gotten a whole lot better for blacks in my lifetime, as the career of someone like Professor Cashin demonstrates; and (2) the remaining problems are not the failure of the upper class middle black residents of Baldwin Heights to want to live with me in West LA. Voluntary segregation by well-off blacks is not a problem. What is a problem are issues such as continuing violence in South Central LA. By focusing on the non-issue of integration, Professor Cashin sticks her head in the past and refuses to engage with the issues of today.
Balanced advocacy for the integrationist perspective.......2006-02-20
Sheryll Cashin is heavily invested in the challenges of integration. She's chosen to live in a multicultural DC neighborhood despite the choices available to her as a Georgetown University School of Law professor. She served under Thurgood Marshall near the tragic end of his historic career on the Supreme Court. "Failures of Integration" strives to be a well-reasoned argument for a rededication to the values of integration.
Local DC Metro residents will gain a great deal from this book, and I'd recommend it to any of my professional and community neighbors without question. Cashin discusses areas such as Mt. Airy in Philadelphia and Detroit's highly segregated metro area, but it is her personal knowledge of DC's situation that is the strength of this book. Many hold Prince George's County, Maryland as a model county for the potential of black people to live in vital yet separate communities. Cashin, however, breaks down the costs of separation for the black middle and upper classes in terms of the schools they sacrifice to live in PG and the futile nature of their escape from urban blight. As a recent DC resident, I found the discussion on the pros and cons of Mitchelleville's mansion communities to be very insightful.
Cashin's criticism is not limited to the black middle class. As a lawyer, she shares her knowledge of the types of government policies that led to the divided communities we have today. Housing discrimination and highway development are two often overlooked areas that weaken the position that today's segregation is a choice. In addition, I was surprised to know how much the demography industry has led businesses to avoid black communities and distort development. When companies internalize the view that development in homogenous, high income communities is the safest way to profit, it makes it hard to generate the business development that makes minority/majority and diverse communities economically viable.
Cashin even bravely takes on arguing that whites also lose with segregation. Winner takes all competition for scarce public school resources and the premium real estate prices of homogenous communities will eventually squeeze out the white middle class. Her interviews of Arlington, VA white parents who have decided to remain in the public schools highlights some of the reasoning behind white parents school decisions and the potential benefits of going against the trends of segregation.
This book has led me to reconsider my positions on both private schools and Prince George's County. Increasingly, I'm coming to believe the diverse charter schools in DC are the best long term, reproducible options for school achievement.
If this book does have one blind spot, however, it is the lack of discussion on the black church. Megachurch membership in Prince George's County is a major factor in the integration vs. segregation debate. Many parishioners enjoy the comfort of worship with their own kind. Metropolitan Baptist Church's move from a diversifying Washington, DC community to Prince George's County Maryland reveals some of the challenges in getting black religous leaders to embrace diversity as a positive goal.
Still, this well-researched book will inform readers on the challenges of integration and challenge them to reconsider their own beliefs. We need more voices like this in the debate, and I strongly recommend this book.
4 stars
--SD
Insightful and enlightening.......2005-11-01
Race and class, the two perennial American problems that most Americans try their best to ignore, get another treatment in this well-written, easy to read text analyzing demographic and economic changes that have occurred in the US over the last 30+ years. In short, the author argues that measures to integrate schools and workplaces have been sidestepped by segregation by housing. Specifically, whites have moved to wealthier and wealthier communities in an effort to stay away from poor blacks, and many of these communities in turn use various measures to keep out the "undesirables". The resources that whites spend to create this voluntary, geographic segregation is detrimental to everyone involved. And the effect it has on those left behind, blacks and poor whites, often results in economic privation, loss of property value, destruction of tax base, and a general malaise. The author cites various examples of this segregation at work; these include the NY area, Boston, LA, and the Detroit area.
The picture painted in this book is one of a country where one group of people willingly and purposefully devoted to live as far away as possible from another group of people. The end result is a nation divided, and weakened in various respects. The author also provides alternatives to this state of affairs. First, she encourages wealthy whites, and blacks, to try and live in mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhoods that are more integrated along racial and economic lines. Second, she speaks out against business practices that encourage economic segregation and provides alternatives to them.
One of the most important points made in this book is that the reason why integration failed in the USA is because the efforts to integrate have by and large been made by the minority (blacks) but have been resisted by the majority (whites).
What the book should have included is a chapter examining how other societies have gone about dealing with racial / socioeconomic differences. I personally suggest the author look at Singapore and its history since WWII as a good example of how to keep a multicultural society together. But overall a good book to read.
a social analysis of the highest importance.......2005-08-30
I had the experience of seeing Prof. Cashin summarize her book in person. I found her approach very shrewd. First, she reviewed her own options and rationale for choosing where to buy a house in Washington. Then she cited studies on people's racial preference in housing patterns. Then she moved from subjective attitudes to "objective" political-economic realities and the policies behind them. She outlined a ratings system ranking the quality and hence real estate value of types of neighborhoods from the very top to the very bottom, which do not reflect the subjective whims of homebuyers but the value set by business. At the top are exclusively white, affluent neighborhoods. The key issue here is not the affluence, but the fact that the desirability of a well-off neighborhood is indicated by its (white) racial homogeneity. She segued to the cost of segregation to whites. Their upward mobility is also affected by this hierarchy, because the "desirable" all-white neighborhoods become so expensive that most middle class whites can't afford them and are thereby relegated to a lower social status. The prescription is policy that supports safe, desirable neighborhoods with mixed race and income levels, of which there are some model examples. Whites will also materially benefit from not having to live in a situation where every move they make is dominated by fear of blacks. Cashin emphasized her book's title's claims that there have been failures to achieve the stated goal of integration, not that integration is a failure. She is pro-integration, and is concerned about the practical measures to make it a reality and not merely pay lip service to the ideal. "Integration" should not be considered an old-fashioned word from the early '60s.
To some extent the nature of the audience response was split by race. The blacks tended to emphasize the artificiality of racial separation, how little sense it makes, and how odd America's de facto racial segregation seems from outside the United States and how alike all Americans seem to foreigners. The whites, most of whom were well-meaning and very anxious to redress the problem, had different sorts of comments and questions. Cashin clearly dissociated herself from appeals to white guilt either promoted or criticized by certain white people in the room, emphasizing that she did not play blame games either in her talk nor in her book.
I commended Cashin for her approach, beginning with the subtitle of her book (race and class) and proceeding from the subjective and objective sides of residential patterns, which ultimately determine so much. I argued that the mass media and popular culture and everyday interaction send mixed messages: on the one hand popular culture encourages integration; on the other, it too often rigidly reinforces stereotypes. People are much more accepting these days of one another at the workplace and in casual interactions in public, but then they go home to separate neighborhoods and don't socialize with one other outside of work. And then there is the true test of integration: intermarriage, and the reactions of one's relatives to interracial couplings. This society is full of contradictions. There is a failure of imagination: no one has the foresight to grasp the implications of integration, which, if the barriers between people were removed once and for all, would radically alter _everyone's_ conception of identity. My comments--especially my phrase "failure of imagination"--really moved Prof. Cashin and several audience members. And if you care about this society's future, make this book a top priority.
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Pipe Dream Blues: Racism and the War on Drugs
Clarence Lusane
Manufacturer: South End Press
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Crack In America: Demon Drugs and Social Justice
ASIN: 0896084108 |
Customer Reviews:
Disturbing.......2003-07-31
"Down the decades the CIA has approached perfection in one particular art, which we might term the 'uncover-up.' This is a process whereby, with all due delay, the Agency first denies with passion, then concedes in profoundly muffled tones, charges leveled against it. Such charges have included the Agency's recruitment of Nazi scientists and SS officials; experiments on unwitting American citizens; efforts to assassinate Fidel Castro; alliances with opium lords in Burma, Thailand and Laos; an assassination program in Vietnam; complicity in the toppling of Salvador Allende in Chile; the arming of opium traffickers and religious fanatics in Afghanistan; the training of murderous police in Guatemala and El Salvador; and involvement in drugs-and-arms shuttles between Latin America and the US.... Charges are raised against the CIA. The Agency leaks its denials to favored journalists, who hasten to inform the public that after intense self-examination, the Agency has discovered that it has clean hands. Then, when the hubbub has died down, the Agency issues a report in which, after patient excavation the resolute reader discovers that, yes, the CIA did indeed do more or less exactly what it had been accused of."
Alexander Cockburn and
Jefferey St. Clair
WHITEOUT: THE CIA, DRUGS AND THE PRESS
From Chapter 15: "The Uncover-up"
"In July 1995, San Jose Mercury-News reporter Gary Webb found the Big One--the blockbuster story every journalist secretly dreams about--without even looking for it. A simple phone call concerning an unexceptional pending drug trial turned into a massive conspiracy involving the Nicaraguan Contra rebels, L.A. and Bay Area crack cocaine dealers, and the Central Intelligence Agency. For several years during the 1980s, Webb discovered, Contra elements shuttled thousands of tons of cocaine into the United States, with the profits going toward the funding of Contra rebels attempting a counterrevolution in their Nicaraguan homeland. Even more chilling, Webb quickly realized, was that the massive drug-dealing operation had the implicit approval--and occasional outright support--of the CIA, the very organization entrusted to prevent illegal drugs from being brought into the United States...Within the pages of DARK ALLIANCE, Webb produces a massive amount of evidence that suggests that such a scenario did take place, and more disturbing evidence that the powers that be that allowed such an alliance are still determined to ruthlessly guard their secrets."
Amazon.com review
DARK ALLIANCE
by Gary Webb
PIPE DREAM BLUES, by Clarence Lusane goes far beyond documenting the role of the CIA in the drug problem in the inner cities and--more and more everyday--the suburbs of America. In much the same way great investigative journalism borders on the nobility of a sermon, Lusane surpasses both simple storytelling and chillingly accurate social criticism to create the kind of unavoidable paradigm shifts in one's thinking that can cause you to lose quite a bit of sleep, before reading the morning paper with an all-new critical eye. Paradigm shifts about literally everything that could be associated with drugs in the United States grace the pages of this book, from the actual nature of both addictive and illegal drugs (guess what? the one's that aren't illegal are the most damaging to human health and the entire country); to the haunting spectre, frightening architecture and ever-useful weapon of racism; to the moral vaccuum created by our crime-ridden capital Washington, D.C. having no representation in the federal government (and the consequences of it that the entire country must deal with); to the inherent structure of capitalism, its present day/21st century connection to the moral cancer of slavery through the 17th to the 19th centuries--and the segregation of the 20th--and its effect on the human soul in its entirety. Barely a stone of modern American culture is left unturned in this book, which should be the bible of every mayor, police commissioner, FBI agent and social activist in this country.
This is a book that will make you wonder why the obvious truths of the non-existent American drug war are being ignored after they are revealed--and then instinctively realize why: invisible people are profiting from it.
Lusane is an extraordinary journalist, proving again that investigative journalism is becoming a lost art--lost in the tidal wave of politics run by corporations, not nations. If you are the type of person who can't get enough of a show like COPS, prepare to (hopefully) never be able to watch it again after reading little more than the Introduction of this brilliantly crafted expose of the primitive underbelly of the American psyche, hiding behind *law* and *order*. Read this for the sake of our children--of all races.
Book Description
It is sometimes said that the most segregated time of the week in the United States is Sunday morning. Even as workplaces and public institutions such as the military have become racially integrated, racial separation in Christian religious congregations is the norm. And yet some congregations remain stubbornly, racially mixed. People of the Dream is the most complete study of this phenomenon ever undertaken. Author Michael Emerson explores such questions as: how do racially mixed congregations come together? How are they sustained? Who attends them, how did they get there, and what are their experiences? Engagingly written, the book enters the worlds of these congregations through national surveys and in-depth studies of those attending racially mixed churches. Data for the book was collected over seven years by the author and his research team. It includes more than 2,500 telephone interviews, hundreds of written surveys, and extensive visits to mixed-race congregations throughout the United States.
People of the Dream argues that multiracial congregations are bridge organizations that gather and facilitate cross-racial friendships, disproportionately housing people who have substantially more racially diverse social networks than do other Americans. The book concludes that multiracial congregations and the people in them may be harbingers of racial change to come in the United States.
Customer Reviews:
Must read information.......2006-11-06
This book may be the most extensive study of multiracial congregations in the USA, but we really need more insight. Perhaps in 20-30 years we will have a better idea about how to accomplish racial healing.
The Plus and the Minus of multi-racial churchers.......2006-08-23
Michael Emerson did a lot of careful research for this book, and he tells the truth, some of it told in spite of the obvious fact that he has a strong bias in favor of interracial endeavors.
To begin with, according to his reasonable definition, only 7% of American congregations are interracial, and all is not peaches and cream with these. In a chapter called "Shadows" Emerson relates candidly the difficulties of melding diverse cultures and traditions, especially in religion, and says in so many words that some of those trying to do this often wonder if it worth the effort.
Emerson identifies two dominant religious traditions in America - English European and African American. The big differences are in the areas of preaching and music, which reflect still deeper differences concerning the roles of reason and emotion. Sometimes seemingly minor arguments finally can be seen as rooted in these cultural differences.
Many of the churches Emerson studied are, indeed, predominantly either European or African in their style, and often joining an interracial church means accepting the dominant style of that particular church, even though it may not be your own religious tradition at all.
When all is said and done, this book is a very valuable study of the real sticking points in American race relations, and if the churches who are trying to do something about this can keep on learning, we might all benefit greatly.
I recommend the book mostly because it tells the truth in an area of American life, race relations, where the truth is often hidden or ignored. Dwight Brown
Book Description
In this eloquent account, Patrick Du Phuoc Long discusses why so many children of Indochinese refugees who fled to the U.S. after the Vietnam War are turning to gang life. Du Phuoc Long interweaves the true stories of Indochinese youths with his personal experiences as a trusted counselor to Vietnamese children.
Customer Reviews:
Disturbingly Real.......2000-05-16
Long, a counselor at a juvenile detention center in California, discusses the rise of Viet Namese gangs across the US. The book is essentially a lengthy illustration essay that employs narrative accounts of numerous adolescents and their families. Long provides through his firsthand experience, a frightening but sympathetic glimpse at one of the untold results of the war that turned a generation upside down. It is a story filled with cruelty and abandonment on both an individual and a national level. Perhaps the most valuable component of this study is the actual dialogue between Long and his wards. Long is engaging and wise, and the words of his "clients" are often terrifying and explicit.
One of the most insighful books I've ever read........1998-09-16
The author not only addressed the problem, but also showed how he helps solve it. He shows the pain these youth go through so poignantly. I work with vietnamese refugee youth and this book taught me so much in how the vietnamese family works and how to adress certain problems. this is probably the most down to earth book i've ever read. It's definatly easy to read too.
Product Description
A magical story every child is sure to love. Young Abigail wakes each night, dons her princess crown, and travels to a magical glade to oversee the great unicorn race. Brilliant illustrations bring this beautiful story to life.
Customer Reviews:
A Magical Book.......2007-05-15
Each page of this exceptional book is magic. Along with colorful unicorns, your child will love the elves, fairies, and the pixies. The story is enchanting; the illustrations are sprinkled with stardust.
A story to celebrate a child's imagination.......2007-05-06
Reviewed by Stephanie, Parish (age 3) and Isaac (age 1) Rollins for Reader Views (4/07)
Both Parish and Isaac immediately were drawn to "Unicorn Races." They think the unicorns are horses, and Isaac has been trying to make horse noises ever since reading this.
The story is about the mystical nature of a child's dreams. The illustrations capture this well. The illustrations are dreamy. Parish loves the little girl's dress. She thinks it is an Easter dress, because it is so special. She now thinks she needs a magic wand. I suppose I will have to cover a wooden spoon with aluminum foil and sparkles just to satisfy her.
Each page sparkles with stars and magic. There are special treats each child will love. A few pages have a buffet table of cakes, cookies, and ice-cream sundaes.
In "Unicorn Races," Abigail pretends to go to sleep. As soon as her mother closes her bedroom door, she dresses in her special dress, princess shoes, and crown. She grabs her magic wand and waits for her unicorn. The unicorn flies her to the unicorn races where they also have a feast of sweets. She starts the race; the unicorns race across the sky. Fairies, elves and Abigail cheer the unicorns on. Then they all enjoy their treats. The unicorn returns her to her bed for a few hours of sleep
"Do you like this book?"
"I like this dress. It is an Easter dress."
"Do you know what her wand does?"
"It creates magic."
"What do you think of the pictures?"
"Horses. Look at the cakes. MMMM...."
I had to explain unicorns to Parish. Isaac is making horse sounds and pointing to the pictures of the horses.
"Should we keep this book or give it away?"
"I want to keep it."
"Unicorn Races" is cute book that will delight preschoolers as well as beginning readers. All the words used are familiar and easily sounded out. First and second grade girls will love this book. The colors are a bit too girly for boys. Parish and Isaac recommend it.
Magical Illustrations.......2007-04-06
Linda Crockett's magical illustrations create a comforting environment in which to escape from the pressures of reality. Unicorn Races is an enchanting story about a girl named Abigail who is transformed into a princess. As if in a dream, she is transported to a land of cookies and ice cream sundaes in a beautiful forest. The strawberry icing on the cupcakes looks delicious and everyone is eager to start the races so they can attend the party.
"In a flash, the six majestic unicorns quickly bolted from the clearing. Like a rainbow after a midsummer's shower, the colorful beasts stretched across the shadowy skyline. The princess watched in astonishment as they gracefully took flight."
As the unicorns race through the sky and run through the ocean waves, they finally run past the finished line and the party can begin.
This beautiful book features a padded cover, sturdy binding and page after page of lavender, rose and sapphire illustrations. The coloring used in the art creates a magical setting filled with sparkles like each page has been sprinkled with fairy dust.
~The Rebecca Review
Imaginative, colorful, a real winner for young children.......2007-03-20
The first thing that catches your eye with this book has to be the rich, colorful illustrations on every page. Combine that with an imaginative story that children, and especially young girls, are sure to love and you have a real winner of a book. In this story Abigail spends each night in a clearing in a magical forest where unicorns race across the night sky. After the race and some well deserved treats she is returned home for her night's rest. Beautifully illustrated and sure to keep the attention of young children, Unicorn Races is a recommended read.
Sweet Dreams, Indeed.......2007-03-17
A night hasn't gone by in nearly a month that our child hasn't pulled this from the stack to read. She is also inclined to use the post-story "quiet time" she has to thumb through the book herself. The story is sweet and captures the magical imagination of every young girl. Who hasn't dreamed of being a princess? spending time with the fairies and elves? The pastel illustrations add a lot to the story. It's nice to have a princess book that uses imagination, not television characters, to drive its fantasy. The book offers a fairy tale that princesses will love to hear over and over. Parental readers (who WILL be reading the book over and over) can easily change the color of the winning Unicorn, as the illustration doesn't segregate the winner from the crowd.
Customer Reviews:
Great discription and rare pictures inside........2007-07-10
This is a great book if you want to know more about Jackie. It has rare pictures inside of Jackie posing with fans. I originally bought this book for my Sports History class.
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