The Substance of Hope: Barack Obama and the Paradox of Progress

by Jelani Cobb

Overview

A trenchant and timeless examination of the still-contested meanings of President Barack Obama's election, from a preeminent scholar of race, politics, and American history-with a new introduction by the author.

When voters in 2008 chose the United States' first black president, some Americans hailed the event as a sign that the nation had, at long last, transcended its bloody history of racial inequality. Obama's victory was indescribably momentous, but if the intervening years proved anything, it is that we never leave history entirely behind. Indeed, this may be the ultimate lesson of the Obama era.

First published in 2010, The Substance of Hope is acclaimed historian Jelani Cobb's meditation on what Obama's election represented, an insightful investigation into the civil rights movement forces that helped produce it, and a prescient inquiry into how American society does-and does not-change. In penetrating, elegant prose, Cobb teases apart the paradoxes embodied in race and patriotism, identity and citizenship, progress and legacy.

Now reissued with a new introduction by the author, reflecting on how the seismic impact of the Obama presidency continues to shape America, The Substance of Hope is an indelible work of history and cultural criticism from one of our most singular voices.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781635577426
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	10/13/2020
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.61(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Wiliam Jelani Cobb, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of History at Spelman College in Atlanta. He specializes in post-Civil War African American history, 20th century American politics and the history of the Cold War. He is a contributing writer for Essence magazine, and his essays and reviews have appeared in The Washington Post, The Progressive, Alternet.org, and other publications. He has been a featured commentator on National Public Radio, the acclaimed documentary Beyond Beats & Rhymes, CNN, and a number of other national broadcast outlets. He is the author of To The Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic and The Devil & Dave Chappelle and Other Essays, and has edited and contributed to several other books. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Table of Contents

Introduction On Hopes & Histories x

1 Forty-four

The Meaning of Barack Obama 1

2 Of Jeremiah Wright

The Meaning of Change on the South Side of America 16

3 The Jesse Problem

The Black President and the President of Black America 36

4 The Black Machine

The Old Guard and the Age of Obama 63

5 The Joshua Generation

The Age Divide and Obama 95

6 A Tale of Two Cities

Nairobi, Denver, and the Road to the White House 116

7 Mandates and Metaphors

Of Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Obama 139

8 Where Do We Go from Here? 155

Coda 169

Acknowledgments 175

Notes 179

Index 183

Editorial Reviews

This little book is packed with common sense observations that are given weight and meaning through Professor Cobb's academic and historical insight.” —Melissa Harris-Perry

“A provocative book, from a provocative mind.” —Ta-Nehisi Coates

From the Publisher