Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America

( 2 )

All Available Formats + Editions

——

$19.99

NOOK Book

——

$19.99

Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America (eBook) Pub. Date: 12/29/2005 Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
$0.99

$23.76

Paperback

$0.99

$23.76

Winning The Race (Reprint) Pub. Date: 7/1/1999 Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
$0.99

——

Hardcover

$0.99

——

Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America Pub. Date: 12/29/2005 Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)

Customers Who Bought This Also Bought

A Framework for Understanding...Ruby K. Payne
Paperback $16.63

ADVERTISING

Overview

A provocative new look at the true sources of the social scourges that are holding back black America—and an impassioned manifesto for change

Four decades after the great victories of the Civil Rights Movement secured equal rights for African-Americans, black America is in crisis. Indeed, by most measurable standards, conditions for many blacks have grown worse since 1965: desperate poverty cripples communities nationwide, incarceration rates have reached record highs, teenage pregnancy and out-of- wedlock births are rampant, and educational failures are stifling achievement among the next generation. For years, prominent sociologists and pundits have blamed these problems on forces outside the black community, from lingering racism, to the explosion of the inner-city drug trade, to the erosion of the urban industrial base and the migration of middle-class blacks to the suburbs. But now, in an important and broad-ranging re-envisioning of the post-Civil Rights black American experience, acclaimed author John McWhorter tears down these theories to expose the true roots of today's crisis, and to show a new way forward.

In Winning the Race, McWhorter argues that black America's current problems began with an unintended byproduct of the Civil Rights revolution, a crippling mindset of “therapeutic alienation.” This wary stance toward mainstream American culture, although it is a legacy of racism in the past, continues to hold blacks back, and McWhorter traces all the poisonous effects of this defeatist attitude. In an in-depth case study of the Indianapolis inner city, he analyzes how a vibrant black neighborhood declined into slums, despite ample work opportunities in an American urban center where manufacturing jobs were plentiful. McWhorter takes a hard look at the legacy of the Great Society social assistance programs, lamenting their teaching people to live permanently on welfare, as well as educational failures, too often occurring because of an intellectual climate in which a successful black person must be faced with charges of “acting white.” He attacks the sorry state of black popular culture, where indignation for its own sake has been enshrined in everything from the halls of academia to the deleterious policy decisions of community leaders to the disaffected lyrics of hip-hop, particularly rap's glorification of irresponsibility and violence as “protest.” In a stirring conclusion, McWhorter puts forth a new vision of black political and intellectual leadership, arguing that both blacks and whites must abolish the culture of victimhood, as this alone can improve future of black America, and outlines steps that can be taken to ensure hope for the future.

Powerful and provocative, Winning the Race combines detailed research with precise argumentation to present a compelling new vision for black America.

Acclaim for Winning the Race:
“This is the work of a serious man who knows what the demons are and realizes that they must be identified and fought, not glibly redefined so as to maintain the old order of mush-mouthed ineffectiveness.”
—Stanley Crouch, author of The Artificial White Man and The All-American Skin Game, Or the Decoy of Race

“John McWhorter demolishes the liberal conventional wisdom about the sources of poverty, crime, family breakdown, and other social ills that afflict the black community today, and offers a compelling alternative vision of how to move beyond the current crisis. Winning the Race is a must-read for anyone with a serious interest in the problem of race in modern America.”
—Stephan Thernstrom and Abigail Thernstrom, authors of America in Black and White: One Nation, Indivisible and No Excuses: How to Close the Racial Gap in Learning

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

In this sequel to his 2000 bestseller, Losing the Race, McWhorter exhorts blacks to leave their "anti-whitey theatrics" behind and acknowledge the new racial realities of America. What began as civil rights activism in the late 1960s, he argues, has devolved into empty gestures that leave blacks "defined by defiance" and unwilling to face their problems with innovative responses. The flight of industrial jobs and middle-class blacks from the inner city and the spread of drugs should all have been dealt with head-on, he writes, but instead a debilitating rejectionist attitude took hold. McWhorter vigorously claims that, while blacks weren't well off before the '60s, black Indianapolis in 1915 wasn't "New Jack Indy," and blacks managed to get by without welfare. Yet welfare ended urban blacks' self-reliance and "taught poor blacks to extend the new oppositional mood from hairstyles and rhetoric into a lifestyle separated from mainstream American culture." Blacks grew to think of studying hard as "acting white," and a destructive sense of "therapeutic alienation" that ignores personal responsibility permeated black society, from school and hip-hop culture to leadership and politics. Accessible, if at times long-winded and repetitive, McWhorter's provocative, tough-love message is both grounded in history and forward-looking. (Jan.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews

From The Critics

In what is in effect a sequel to his Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America, McWhorter (senior fellow, Manhattan Institute; contributing editor, the New Republic) claims that racism is not the most daunting barrier to success for African Americans. He states that the social behaviors attributed to some poor, inner-city blacks are rooted in cultural rather than economic causes. The author's thought-provoking, insightful investigation challenges such highly regarded academic sociologists as William Julius Wilson and Elijah Anderson, by arguing that welfare dependence and inner-city drug use and violence are not caused by a lack of accessible blue-collar jobs and white racism. Instead, McWhorter concludes, these forms of conduct are rooted in a culture of poverty that emerged in the mid-1960s and in what he calls "therapeutic alienation," which entices a minority of African Americans to remain apart from mainstream society. Included here are affirming narratives about the expansion of a vibrant suburban black middle class and about a greatly improved civil rights climate unavailable to African Americans as recently as 30 years ago. This book energizes the continuing dialogue about racism in the United States and is strongly recommended for public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/05.]-Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781592401888
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Publication date: 12/29/2005
Pages: 432
Product dimensions: 6.32 (w) x 9.26 (h) x 1.42 (d)

Meet the Author

JOHN MCWHORTER is the author of ten books, including the New York Times bestseller Losing the Race, the San Francisco Chronicle bestseller The Power of Babel, and most recently Doing Our Own Thing (Gotham Books, 2003). A senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, he holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Stanford University and is a frequent media commentator on race, language, and culture.

Ch. 1	The birth of the inner city : the conventional wisdom	17
Ch. 2	The birth of the inner city, part one : Indianapolis	37
Ch. 3	The birth of the inner city, part two : the saga	73
Ch. 4	Why are you talking about blacks on welfare?	114
Ch. 5	The meme of therapeutic alienation : defined by defiance	153
Ch. 6	What about black middle-class rage?	197
Ch. 7	What about the view from the ivory tower?	228
Ch. 8	Therapeutic alienation meets hitting the books : "acting white" and affirmative action revisited	261
Ch. 9	The "hip-hop revolution" : therapeutic alienation on a rhythm track	315
Ch. 10	Therapeutic alienation as a plan of action? : new black leadership for new Negroes	352
Ch. 11	Conclusion	376

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5

( 2 )

Rating Distribution

( 1 )
( 1 )
( 0 )
( 0 )
( 0 )

If you've bought this product, tell the world how you liked it.

Write a Review

Anonymous

Posted May 17, 2006

Honest and A Must Read

I found this book to be honest and a book that I think all young Black Americans should read especially! I believe in truth telling and Mr. McWhorter is a truth teller regardless if it is exposing 'our dirty laundry'.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
Anonymous

Posted March 16, 2006

Substantial

Good book for developing a better understanding and creating solutions to longstanding problems.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble

Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America

Available on NOOK devices and apps

Overview

All Available Formats + Editions

Customers Who Bought This Also Bought

More About This Book

Overview

Related Subjects

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

From The Critics

Product Details

Meet the Author

Table of Contents

Rating Distribution

Honest and A Must Read

Substantial