Book Description
Grid architecture is Oracles strategy for high-end computing and RAC is the stepping stone into this arena. This book focuses on current technology including all valid RAC features up through Oracle Database 10g Release 2, with a primary focus on deploying it in a high-end grid environment. The book discusses this technology at length which users will find beneficial when researching, implementing or monitoring a RAC environment. The author covers workshop implementation of services and the distribution of workload across instances, with threshold definitions and the new load balancing algorithms. In addition it includes detailed discussions on ASM that complements the implementation of RAC in Oracle Grid strategy. The book also includes discussions on new Oracle Clusterware, its components and its integration with RAC.
Oracle 10g RAC focuses on RAC-specific topics including ASM, operating system configuration, installation and configuration of RAC and much more. Coverage includes network configuration for high availability, FAN, TAF, ONS, implementation of maximum availability architecture (MAA), EM Grid Control, AWR, ADDM and other performance-related tools. The author includes several scripts for performance tuning and implementation that the reader can use to configure a RAC environment either on a 2, 4, 8, 60 or 99 node configuration.
* Focuses on implementing, testing and tuning features of Real Application Clusters (RAC) database
version 10g Release 2
* Provides extensive coverage of usage, day-to-day functions and operations
* Includes tips and techniques such as script samples
to illustrate various features of RAC
* A jumpstart into all the key features of 10g R2 RAC
Customer Reviews:
Great Book.......2007-06-28
It's hard to find god information on RAC, many of the books simply aren't very good. This one is a must have if you are implementing a RAC enviroment, though of course metalink is crucial as well.
Treats the core 20% like rest of the 80%.......2007-06-07
This is a good reference for Oracle RAC. The author makes a mistake, however, of treating the core 20% of RAC like rest of the 80%. For example, the book's details on Oracle RAC installation was about the same as its explanation of OCFS 1.0.
I think 3 things about ORACLE RAC are essential and perhaps the most important part of RAC knowledge. They are the architecture, the installation (not that simple), and the administration. Approximately 20% of the book is dedicated to the 3 core topics.
To his credit, the author does provide some fine examples and detailed knowledge on many esotoric aspects of RAC. For example, I have found his insights into DBMS and DGMRL packages related to RAC very helpful.
Not worth the price.......2007-05-17
The grammar is terrible, it's filled with bad analogies and information that should have been assumed (e.g., RAID - how long has this technology been around?). There's a couple good nuggets but overall, it's like bad reality TV, %5 content surrounded by 95% filler.
Excellent Guide for 10g RAC.......2007-04-10
This book has proven to be an excellent guide for graduating my team on to 10g RAC. It has become a must-read for all our existing DBAs/new hires. The details that Murali lends to any topic allow us to understand the topic best. His narration is matched with his technicalese.
We are eagerly looking foward to his and Nitin's next book on ASM.
Best RAC book.......2007-01-06
As compared to the 370 pages provided by Oracle as docu for RAC, this book with its nearly 700 pages and lots of info and examples is brilliant.
I have two years Oracle 10g RAC experience, but I have found in this book very valuable information about how RAC works, what is behind all components and all kind of "inside information" one could not find in Oracle documentation.
Except some typos (understandable, given the rush to print a good book about RAC) this book is clearly a BUY.
Cristian
OCP 8i,9i,10g.
Book Description
Learn cutting-edge technology from Oracle experts
Written by Oracle insiders, this comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about Real Application Clusters -- low-cost hardware platforms that can rival and exceed the quality of service, availability, and scalability of the most expensive mainframe systems.
- Concepts covered are applicable to all previous versions of Oracle
- Tuning and troubleshooting tips, providing insight on the most advanced diagnostics available
- Detailed coverage of advanced RAC concepts
- Working code for all examples available online
Customer Reviews:
Great Value for money.......2007-10-05
If you have his earlier book, OWI Practical guide to Performance Diagnostics and Tuning, you know KG's style. This book is equally good. As you come to expect of him the book is concise, precise, relevant and lucid.
You are low level, mid level or senior level DBA, there are chapters that are of interest to you. I found Part IV, covering Advanced Concepts in RAC very interesting. With his in depth coverage on Cache Coherency, GES & GCS he lays a solid foundation. The ice on the cake is Chapter 12 - Closer look at Cache fusion. Your money gets more than its worth on this chapter alone - if you ask me. The hands on approach for cache fusion are remarkable. Work load and connection management as well RAC troubleshooting are very helpful too.
In a nutshell, you will not be disappointed and it is worth more than its price.
Conceptually strong.......2007-08-30
Equating technology to any sport, you succeed when the fundamentals are strong.
This books takes a wonderful step towards elucidating fundamental concepts of Oracle RAC, its evolution from OPS, separation from OPS and how RAC has evolved into a leading technology.
Part 1 is a quick primer of clustering technolgies and HA concepts. There is a detailed parallel drawn between OPS and RAC and elucidated in a very clear manner. These concepts are then tailored into the RAC architecture chapter which explains the RAC architecture in detail and the components that make up RAC.
Part 2 , once you are armed with the architectural concepts, dives into elucidating the Installation procedures and takes us through an Oracle RAC setup detailing the steps.
Part 3, chapters 7 and 8 give you a thorough run down of basic and advanced Oracle RAC administration.
Chapters 9 onwards is when the author differentiates himself from the other text on the same subject. While its easy to say Oracle RAC backup and recovery works the same with some differences or to say Cache Fusion is how we move the blocks around, its another thing to conceptualize this and the authoer excels in presenting these concepts in a very natural flow. Bringing to light these concepts and delving deeper into GRD, RAC Performance Management etc, the author sets a high standard.
Finally, when watching a show, the artists hope to leave the audience wanting for more rather than thinking when are they going to stop...On the same note, Gopal has left us wanting for more with this wonderful book.
Very well written and highly informative.......2007-07-20
When I first received this book after ordering it from Amazon, my initial feeling was disappointment. "It's too thin", I thought. A subject like RAC needs a much bigger tome. Well, I was wrong.
By concentrating his work specifically on RAC, Mr. Gopalakrishnan has been able to thoroughly cover his subject in a relatively thin volume. But, be warned. This is not a book for beginners nor is it a book about Oracle in general. It is specifically about RAC, how a lot of it works under the covers. For those people who are interested in the subject, it is an invaluable resource. The chapters on the Global Resource Directory and Cache Fusion are worth the price, alone. I was also quite happy to see chapters on installation and ASM management. There are plenty of installation guides available on the web, but it was nice to see the author's version of it. After all, you can't work on a RAC database without first installing it. Mr. Gopalakrishnan understands that.
There isn't much to complain about here and a ton to compliment. The book has already helped me in understanding some of the problems I have encountered with the RAC database I am currently managing. Needless to say, I highly recommend it.
I have a number of books on Oracle, some good and some bad. This book has a place on my shelf next to the books written by Kyte, Millsap and Lewis. That would be in the "good" category, for those who don't know. The very, very good category. :-)
Extremely well written with tremendous in-depth coverage of RAC internals.......2007-04-24
By far, the best book I have read on the subject of Oracle10g RAC. Given the success of Gopalakrishnan as coauthor of the book "Oracle Wait Interface: A Practical Guide to Performance Diagnostics & Tuning", I was eager to see his work on a subject as involved as Oracle10g RAC. I am happy to say that Gopal did an outstanding and thorough job! Every chapter of this book is clear and well written with accurate demonstrations and valuable illustrations. This book is for both beginners as well as seasoned Oracle professions.
What I found most useful was the in-depth coverage of Cache Fusion and Global Resource Directory as well as a thorough troubleshooting section. The author also provides extensive coverage on installation and architecture concerns, backup and recovery in RAC, performance monitoring, workload balancing and distribution, connection management, as well as application development and extensions to the RAC architecture. Oracle's Automatic Storage Management (ASM) feature is fully explained as well as many other basic and advanced administration topics.
The only area of improvement I would suggest is greater coverage on backing up and recovering the two key Oracle Clusterware shared components: the Voting Disk and the Oracle Cluster Registry File. Although the book does contain information pertaining to backing up and recovering these resources, I felt that these two files are critical enough to the operation of Oracle Clusterware that a full working example would be helpful. Possibly a workshop that fully details how to recover a voting disk and cluster registry file after the loss of both files.
I would highly recommend this book to DBA's and Developers tasked with working in an Oracle10g RAC environment. You will not be disappointment!
Everything you ever wanted to know about RAC and more............2007-03-04
Just got this much expected book from Gopal! Absolutely fantastic...It is certainly very detailed and in-depth was my immediate impression.
Many topics are detailed, exhaustive and to the point. It is different to the other RAC books available in the market and also this book is platform independent. I am very impressed with this one because it is unique and the style of writing is great, not to mention the depth and clarity of the chapters.
I would like to agree with the other person who has commented that we need lot of attention and concentration to read this book. If you have a RAC database, nothing like it to try the example demonstrations provided in the book.
Not everyone will be fortunate to have a 4 node RAC to test the possible cache fusion scenarios explained in this book. But the author has prepared a very effective demonstration to reveal the internal operations of the cache fusion. A lot of topics like internal of resource mastering/remastering, two pass recovery and past images are dealt to the core. Another unique in the book is a discussion on extended RAC (most commonly known as stretch clusters or geo clusters) and discussions on Application development for RAC.
Overall, it is an excellent text on RAC and worth for your investment on Time and money. There are so less books with good quality and content. It is worth the wait and I hope you won't be disappointed.
Book Description
Real Application Clusters (RAC) and the Grid architecture are Oracle's strategy for scaling out enterprise systems to cope with bigger workloads and more users. Many books limit themselves by conceptualizing and theorizing about RAC technology, but this book is the first to portray implementing and administering an Oracle 10g RAC system in a Linux environment. This book features basic concepts underlying Linux and Oracle RAC, design strategies, hardware procurement and configuration, and many other topics.
The RAC-specific technologies described include configuration of the interconnect, OCFS, ASM, Cluster Ready Services, and Grid Control. The Oracle features RMAN and Data Guard are also discussed, along with available hardware options. The authors include practical examples and configuration information, so that upon reading this book, you'll be armed with the information you need to build an Oracle RAC database on Linux, whether it is on a single laptop or a 64-node Itanium cluster.
Customer Reviews:
Solid content.......2007-10-19
I am not a DBA, but I support several systems with various databases. I picked this book because I needed to get up to speed on Oracle RAC in a hurry. Even though I'm working with it under AIX, all of the concepts and core components are the same. This book was filled with the information that I needed and did so in a logical fashion. I was mainly interested in the clustering components and the book gave good descriptions and examples. This book enabled me to look at the systems in my environment and quickly figure out how it was configured and what state the various clustering components were in. I think the book is very readable and also makes an excellent reference. Again, I primarily do system administartion and clustering, but this book gave me a solid understanding of how RAC works which enables me to better understand the DBA's requirements and what the system requirements are for a RAC environment. It also helped me in determining proper kernel tuning parameters.
great book........2007-10-07
This is really a nice book to have.
Contents are solid and clear.
The best RAC book so far.
It's eye to improving processes and manageability can't be beat........2006-10-14
Any programmer or designer who wants a step-by-step tutorial to Pro Oracle Database 10gRAC on Linux must have this book: it surveys all details from installation to advanced administration and optimization, with chapters covering installations across multiple servers for all Oracle users. The book delivers RAC on Linux solutions through a series of explanations on configuration, tips on techniques, and more: it's eye to improving processes and manageability can't be beat.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Well worth the wait. Great job on Oracle 10g RAC for Linux!!!.......2006-08-23
Good book on how to implement RAC and Linux. I enjoyed the deep theoretical and practical coverage on RAC performance and design issues for Linux. Highly recommended along with Mike Ault's Oracle 10g RAC book.
Book Description
Attain real solutions for current availability challenges. Based on a “DBA-centric” approach to High Availability, Oracle Database 10g High Availability concentrates on explaining Oracle Database 10g technologies and practices to database administrators, covering general availability, real application clusters (RAC), disaster planning and recovery, and distributed database solutions. Hardware and application needs are also taken into account. While Oracle Database 10g is the main focus, many of the options discussed are available in earlier database releases. Organized to provide conceptual understanding of High Availability, included are “HA Workshops,” step-by-step instructions to get you through certain implementations, plus real-world inspired case studies.
Customer Reviews:
Not detailed enough- lacks implementation coverage.......2005-09-08
I agree with one other poster that this book attempts to cover all major HA features in Oracle in one small book. It is ok for a very high level overview hence the 1 star but falls flat for major details on the individual HA features. Instead my advice is to get The Oracle 9i RAC book from Rampant Press, Oracle Streams book and Oracle Data Guard book all from Rampant Press and read the Oracle concepts manuals for these HA features.
Good book for intermediate DBA's.......2005-08-05
It is one of the few good books available in the market which covers RAC, DataGuard and Flashback features all in one.
One of the drawbacks of this book is the fact that too much has been packed into one single book and it seems to loose its focus and lacks in detail.
Overall, I still recommend this to my students who undergo my RAC and DG courses.
Arif Khan
Oracle Consultant, (...)
Just overview of Oracle HA technology.......2005-02-26
The writers like to subsitute the Oracle manual in OTN but make no difference . eg, I wanted to setup the Dataguard through EM10g Grid Control. In fact , the creation standby database wizard was filled of bugs and user can't make use of it till patching and huge manual works. It's no doubt that writers never tried on this features. The book is rather splotchy and winding.
Good, broad coverage.......2005-01-19
I like this book and it has excellent breadth especially the RAC wait event tuning. My only issue was that it did not have enough detail, but I liked what was there.
Yes, Read this Book at least, twice........2005-01-18
Yes, Read this Book at least, twice.
Has steps linked to various chapters.
Reading, Second time will solve/Answer most of your questions.
This Book is very good- I have implemented HA with RAC / DR - successfully many times.
On the scale 1-5
RAC - 3
Uses Oracle provided kernel (Linux) with firewire (storage) Architecture, for beginners it might be helpful.
Missing GFS - Global file system implementation. Can be used instead of ocfs.
RAC - Oracle Installation - 4
Installation, always read documentation from Oracle.
Flashback - 3
Since this is neat/new feature - need more explanation. Explains implementing Flashback, not much on administration of Flashback.
DR - 5
DataGuard - 5
Very good steps and explanation - cannot go wrong implementing DR logical/Physical
TAF - 4
Good explanation of TAF - Yes you will be able to implement the TAF and load balance RAC env.
ASM - 3
This is a very powerful feature - Needs a separate chapter similar to DR/Dataguard.
Book Description
Revealing the secrets for quickly implementing and tuning Oracle RAC database systems, this book covers all areas of Oracle Real Application Clusters including Oracle10g new features. Oracle DBAs who are charged with configuring and implementing a RAC clusters database will benefit from this complete guide to the installation as well as configuration and design of Oracle Real Application Clusters. Information is supplied on expert internals of shared disk technology, raw devices and RAID with RAC, the internal concurrency, resource coordination, and the locking mechanism within RAC. Also explained are Transparent Application Failover (TAF) and monitoring and tuning Oracle10g RAC applications.
Customer Reviews:
Too much theory.........2007-06-18
Too much theory and too much to go through.
Good Book for DBA's who are new to RAC.......2007-05-13
This is good book for DBA's who are just new to RAC Technology and this book touches all aspect of configuring and installing RAC. I personally like it. It also give some knowledge about tuning the RAC databases which is somewhat different from tuning the non RAC.
Best RAC book with a lot of real problems and solutions!.......2007-05-08
I want to thanks Madhu Tuma and Mike Ault to wrote this very good book about RAC. It is the best book about RAC that i ever read.
It's help me to solve a big problem about network in my RAC enviroment.
Best regards,
Paulo Portugal.
Best and first book on RAC!!!.......2007-01-15
I own all of the books on Oracle Real Application clusters which is one of the most challenging areas within Oracle database technology. What I like about this book is that it covers a broad area of technology including hardware, software and design components on how to implement a RAC cluster. The author is a known expert in the Oracle field and his brilliant insights shows in this wonderful book. In particular, I like the coverage of hardware design issues and failover with a RAC cluster. There are also nicely referenced sections on topics that one can use to lookup on Metalink. To critics of the book, I am surprised- it is not simply a rehash of metalink rather a deep coverage of the challenges with building and maintaining a RAC environment.
Excellent information in an unwieldy wrapper.......2006-10-10
I found the information in this book to be quite good. There was a lot of focus on the interweaving of multiple techonologies that is required by RAC, and a significant amount of detail in each chapter. I think this book is a great start for a RAC DBA or DB and systems architects.
I found this book to be very poorly edited however, with enough grammatical mistakes to detract from my overall enjoyment of the book. I know that rampant focuses on getting books out fast, and this shows in the editing. Unfortunately, this detracts from the professionalism of the work.
Additionally, I found there to be a lot of filler material, either in the form of theoretical discussions of little relevance, extremely rudimentary concepts that should be assumed in the subject matter, or redundant material. The font was much too large, with too much whitespace per page, and too many useless and non-amusing pictures. They could have removed 300 pages from this book, which would result in a rich and smaller tome. For those of us who travel a lot or who have a large collection of books, 800 page books are a detriment unless the material warrants the size. In this case, the material did not.
Overall, I'm glad I own the book. It has proven practical in my work and gave me some great insights. But I would like to see Rampant step up a notch in editing and packaging, and provide a new edition since this field is so fast-paced.
Book Description
A reference for RAC and TAF technology, this book demonstrates how to optimize Oracle clustered server environments for optimal performance and flexibility. Covering all areas of RAC continuous availability and transparent application failover, this book is indispensable for Oracle DBAs who are responsible for configuring and implementing RAC clusters databases. The secrets for successful design of RAC clusters and the expert internals of shared disk technology, raw devices, and RAID with RAC are described. The internal concurrency and PCM locking mechanisms within RAC are exposed, and the configuration of Transparent Application Failover is explained. Also provided are tips for monitoring and tuning RAC applications and tricks for using Oracle9i RAC Cluster Guard.
Customer Reviews:
content is just so-so.......2005-06-16
This isn't a great book the facts are very misleading and inaccurate, for example the book implies having 99.999% uptime is unachievable. I have implemented many systems which have uptimes approaching 100%.
Puts a lot of RAC information right at your fingertips.......2005-02-22
A lot of people's criticism of this book is that some of the information can be found on Metalink. Well who wants to have to search metalink everytime you need to look up something. Plus Mike's interpretation of RAC is based on years of experience. Most everyone will have a lot to gain from this book.
A badly written book.......2005-02-14
The writing has a lot of errors and gramatical problems.
Technically I found the book had little to offer as well.
It is full of meaningless phrases, with little content that provided an insight into grid computing. I also found the logical
presentation of the topic confusing and contradictory.
Maybe it would suit the less technical reader, it just wasn't what I was looking for.
Too much theory, not enough instructions.......2004-11-27
The book is 600 pages and only 40 of them involve RAC administration. The rest are mostly explanations of the theory and the workings of Oracle RAC. Most of the information in this book can be obtained either through the metalink or other websites.
The book is good if you would like to expand your knowledge of RAC. But its lack of details on "how to" install, troubleshoot, configure, and manage RAC makes this book less than ideal for Oracle DBAs.
Finally, although the author(s) are obviously good writers, their writing style is more suited for a novel. Their smooth but wordy and banal prose makes it exceedingly easy to miss important points regarding Oracle RAC.
Reciting the Manuals.......2004-07-17
Zzzz. This book is nothing more than a regurgitation of what's in the Oracle manuals and a few tidbits from MetaLink. If it contained even a little information that cannot be readily found elsewhere, it would make the book more worthwhile. Not your best work, Mike.
Book Description
This guide to leveraging RAM-SAN technology shows Oracle DBAs how to create fast Oracle9i RAC databases. Techniques for leveraging RAM disk in an Oracle RAC and Grid environment are demonstrated including changes to initialization parameters and the selective use of SSD in large database environments (UNDO, REDO, and TEMP tablespaces on solid-state disk).
Customer Reviews:
Oracle RAC & Grid Tuning with Solid-state Disk.......2006-02-18
Solid-state Disk for OLTP application using Oracle as database server give us breath taking releave.
I did not know I needed this book!.......2005-11-26
I got this book as a vendors prize at Oracleworld and I was suprized to learn that SSD is not just a flash in the pan. I do not recommend hardware, but I had great success with this approach. Since I did not pay for my copy I wanted to give back, so I highly recommend this one as a worthwhile read.
Customer Reviews:
18-month calendar review.......2007-01-04
I really like the format of the calendar. It's perfect that it's coordinated to the school year. I also like the pocket at the back to store invitations, school notices, etc.
Best calendar I've found for a family.......2006-10-24
I love this calendar because it is spiral bound and folds up neatly by the phone. There's loads of room to write stuff down with a choice of a full month view or by the week. Includes a daily fold out schedule for each season to keep track of activities, work etc, and places in the back to note important phone numbers. A page for the babysitter too!
great tool!.......2006-09-16
I have really enjoyed this calendar as it has lots of space to write and lots of "extras". You can open up to a full month as well as pages for each week and big spaces for each day. There is also a quarterly scheduling section to help you manage all the kids' activities side by side! There are tear off sections on each page for lists/shopping/etc. Great book!
Average customer rating:
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EXECUTING RACE: EARLY AMERICAN WOMEN'S NARRATIVES OF RAC SOCIETY, AND THE LAW
SHARON M HARRIS
Manufacturer: Ohio State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0814251315 |
Average customer rating:
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Rac(E)Ing to the Right: Selected Essays of George S. Schuyler
George S. Schuyler
Manufacturer: University of Tennessee Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
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Similar Items:
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Black and Conservative The Autobiography of George S. Schuyler
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Black No More : A Novel (Modern Library Paperbacks)
ASIN: 1572331186 |
Customer Reviews:
A Lost Treasure.......2004-10-04
What a pleasant surprise to find this book. I have had an interest in black conservatives ever since discovering Thomas Sowell, who was an intellectual life preserver while I was drowning in the muck of political correctness in higher education. I discovered that George Schuyler was a pre-eminent black conservative and journalist of the early to mid-20th Century and wondered why I had not seen his name more frequently. I read his novel Black No More and was fortunate to find his out of print autobiography Black and Conservative at a used bookstore in Columbus. I thought then that someone should put together a collection of his essays and was pleased to find out that this was subsequently done.
This collection spans all of Schuyler's career and shows him at various stages of his intellectual and ideological journey. Although ending up on the right side of the political spectrum, Schuyler took a circuitous route to get there. The essays in this collection highlight Schuyler's sharp wit and rhetorical flair whether arguing from the left, right or somewhere else of his own making.
Schuyler's most well known and controversial essays are included. These include his attack against the concept of a specifically Black-American art style, his argument against the civil rights acts of the 1960s as interfering with the natural positive progress of race relations, his intense criticisms of Malcolm X and, perhaps most infamously, his equally intense criticisms of Martin Luther King, Jr.
As ignorance of history is the foundation for ignorance of the modern day, there is much to gain from reading Schuyler to place the present into proper context. For instance, it is simply ridiculous to hear Malcolm X being lauded as a "civil rights leader." In fact, Malcolm X was openly hostile towards civil rights and considered true civil rights' leaders to be sellouts. Although he later changed his tune, it was only after his period of influence was largely over, after he had left the Nation of Islam and after he changed his name from Malcolm X to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. Schuyler does a good job of reminding us that perhaps Malcolm X does not deserve the good will, let alone the warm fuzzies, with which many would remember him.
Schuyler also does a good job of demonstrating that pre-1960s America was not a land of relentless racial hostility and that, while certainly a long way from utopia, much progress was being made towards the ideals of equality without the need for governmental interference. Even with respect to MLK Jr., while Schuyler may not have given King his proper due, Schuyler does make legitimate points regarding King's association with communists and reminds us that many times King's presence at protests had the deleterious effect of promoting rather than deterring violence.
My five star rating, however, should not be taken as a wholesale acceptance of Schuyler's positions. His conservatism often took a rather kooky turn and led him down some extreme paths. When William F. Buckley started to clean up conservatism to make it a more mainstream movement, numerous ideologues became marginalized and it appears Schuyler was in this group. Rather, my high rating is a tribute to Schuyler's independent thinking as well as his ability and courage to express controversial and unpopular ideas in a very articulate manner.
My rating also should not be extended to the editor of this volume. Jeffrey B. Leak's introduction does make some good points, such as suggesting that Schuyler's hard ideology and in-your-face manner might have actually slowed the development of black conservatism by making things more difficult for moderate black conservatives. Also, Leak makes an exceptionally good point that Schuyler's upper New York upbringing may have caused him to underestimate the anger and frustration of Southern blacks.
But for every hit Leak makes, there is a miss. Leak speculates that Schuyler repressed a period of incarceration for being AWOL from the military. Yet I think it is clear that Schuyler never mentioned this incarceration because, unlike the civil rights' protesters with whom he later disagreed, he considered incarceration to be a badge of shame. There was nothing repressed about it.
Perhaps most laughable is a comparison Leak makes between Schuyler and modern black author Shelby Steele. In a footnote regarding this comparison, Leak questions criticisms of affirmative action by stating that we never hear upper class whites bemoan their inherited wealth. What is this dude smoking? One only needs to step a single foot on a modern college campus to encounter white liberals suffering massive palpitations over exactly the financial class into which they were born. In fact, such white liberals argue that their own white guilt applies not only to themselves but also to me, even when they know my economic upbringing was worlds away from their own. This alone makes me seriously question Leak's analyses of other issues. (Though, on a note of fairness, Leak's position is somewhat true in that white liberals never seem willing to give up their own jobs to "promote diversity" but are more than happy to advocate that I should lose my job instead, usually done with a tone dripping with patronization. Apparently upper class white liberals feel so bad about their privileged positions that they are willing to discriminate against working class whites to assuage their emotional pain and thereafter point to the racial characteristics of the parties involved to justify their actions to themselves.) Finally, as a strictly academic matter, it is hard to take an editor seriously when one checks his footnotes only to discover that one of them, footnote 47, is simply missing.
Of course, no one is going to read this book for the editing. One will read it for the writing of George Schuyler. Agree with him or not, Schuyler will make a person think. It is a shame, and a statement of our times, that his name is not much better known.
Books:
- Outwitting the Gestapo
- Phillips' Book of Great Thoughts & Funny Sayings: A Stupendous Collection of Quotes, Quips, Epigrams, Witticisms, and Humorous Comments. For Personal Enjoyment and Ready Reference.
- Physik (Septimus Heap, Book 3)
- Race Matters
- Reaching Out
- Redefining Black Film
- Rising Sun
- Streetwise Washington, DC (Streetwise)
- Syndrome X: Overcoming the Silent Killer That Can Give You a Heart Attack
- The Big Sea: An Autobiography (American Century Series)
Books Index
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Recommended Books
- The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography
- How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth
- Bret Harte's Gold Rush: Outcasts of Poker Flat, the Luck of Roaring Camp, Tennessee's Partner, &
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- Fighting for Your Empty Nest Marriage
- History: Fiction or Science
- Go Figure!: A Totally Cool Book About Numbers
- You and Your Puppy: Training and Health Care For Puppy's First Year
- Business Not As Usual: How to Win Managing a Company Through Hard and Easy Times
- Survey On Headhunters And Executive Search In France In 1998