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    Race Matters

    Author Cornel West
    Hardcover
    $24.00 US
    Beacon Press
    On sale Sep 01, 2026 | 128 Pages | 9780807026304
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    The fundamental litmus test for American democracy-its economy, government, criminal justice system, education, mass media, and culture-remains: how broad and intense are the arbitrary powers used and deployed against black people. In this sense, the problem of the twenty-first century remains the problem of the color line. --from the new Preface

    First published in 1993 on the one-year anniversary of the L.A. riots, Race Matters was a national best-seller, and it has since become a groundbreaking classic on race in America.

    Race Matters contains West's most powerful essays on the issues relevant to black Americans today: despair, black conservatism, black-Jewish relations, myths about black sexuality, the crisis in leadership in the black community, and the legacy of Malcolm X. And the insights that he brings to these complicated problems remain fresh, exciting, creative, and compassionate. Now more than ever, Race Matters is a book for all Americans, as it helps us to build a genuine multiracial democracy in the new millennium.
    Preface 2001: Democracy Matters in Race Matters

    Preface 1993

    Race Matters in Twenty-First Century America

    Introduction: Race Matters

    1. Nihilism in Black America

    2. The Pitfalls of Racial Reasoning

    3. The Crisis of Black Leadership

    4. Demystifying the New Black Conservatism

    5. Beyond Affirmative Action: Equality and Identity

    6. On Black-Jewish Relations

    7. Black Sexuality: The Taboo Subject

    8. Malcolm X and Black Rage

    Epilogue
    Cornel West, the "preeminent African-American intellectual of our generation" (Henry Louis Gates, Jr.), is author of many books. He is Alphonse Fletcher, Jr., University Professor at Harvard University.
    Cornel West View titles by Cornel West

    About

    The fundamental litmus test for American democracy-its economy, government, criminal justice system, education, mass media, and culture-remains: how broad and intense are the arbitrary powers used and deployed against black people. In this sense, the problem of the twenty-first century remains the problem of the color line. --from the new Preface

    First published in 1993 on the one-year anniversary of the L.A. riots, Race Matters was a national best-seller, and it has since become a groundbreaking classic on race in America.

    Race Matters contains West's most powerful essays on the issues relevant to black Americans today: despair, black conservatism, black-Jewish relations, myths about black sexuality, the crisis in leadership in the black community, and the legacy of Malcolm X. And the insights that he brings to these complicated problems remain fresh, exciting, creative, and compassionate. Now more than ever, Race Matters is a book for all Americans, as it helps us to build a genuine multiracial democracy in the new millennium.

    Table of Contents

    Preface 2001: Democracy Matters in Race Matters

    Preface 1993

    Race Matters in Twenty-First Century America

    Introduction: Race Matters

    1. Nihilism in Black America

    2. The Pitfalls of Racial Reasoning

    3. The Crisis of Black Leadership

    4. Demystifying the New Black Conservatism

    5. Beyond Affirmative Action: Equality and Identity

    6. On Black-Jewish Relations

    7. Black Sexuality: The Taboo Subject

    8. Malcolm X and Black Rage

    Epilogue

    Author

    Cornel West, the "preeminent African-American intellectual of our generation" (Henry Louis Gates, Jr.), is author of many books. He is Alphonse Fletcher, Jr., University Professor at Harvard University.
    Cornel West View titles by Cornel West

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