Looking White People in the Eye: Gender, Race, and Culture in Courtrooms and Classrooms

Rating:
Summary: Analytical, interesting and even easy to read
Review: Not much to say, other than reader beware.

If you're a buzz-cut fist-in-air man-hating lesbian feminist, you'll love this book. If you're a pride-marching white-hating angry to the core Person Of Color, you'll love this book. If you're still writing love letters to Lenin and dreaming of the day when we'll all live in a Worker's Paradise, you'll love this book.

For everyone else who lives in reality, it's like a visit to the dentist's chair. Every page is painful, and yet we are reminded that every page is supposed to be good for us. Drill, drill, drill. The usual suspects are trotted out: white people, heterosexuals, capitalists. And they are summarily executed.

If you are an undergrad and your humanities professor is shoving this book down your throat--as is most likely the case--I suggest in your off time you track down some Christina Hoff Sommers and innoculate yourself against Razack's leftist indoctrination.

Rating:
Summary: Boilerplate genderracialpolitik w/ armchair socialism
Review: Not much to say, other than reader beware.

If you're a buzz-cut fist-in-air man-hating lesbian feminist, you'll love this book. If you're a pride-marching white-hating angry to the core Person Of Color, you'll love this book. If you're still writing love letters to Lenin and dreaming of the day when we'll all live in a Worker's Paradise, you'll love this book.

For everyone else who lives in reality, it's like a visit to the dentist's chair. Every page is painful, and yet we are reminded that every page is supposed to be good for us. Drill, drill, drill. The usual suspects are trotted out: white people, heterosexuals, capitalists. And they are summarily executed.

If you are an undergrad and your humanities professor is shoving this book down your throat--as is most likely the case--I suggest in your off time you track down some Christina Hoff Sommers and innoculate yourself against Razack's leftist indoctrination.

Rating:
Summary: Riveting and ahead of its time
Review: Razack's analysis has riveting implications for the social sciences and humanities. It is an influencial and critical work, ahead of its time, and has the potential to be broadly applied to many fields. Although, Razack mainly deconstructs the fields of law and education, "Looking White People in the Eye," is likely to cause ripples throughout academia.

Questiong the very premise upon which we base our disciplines--such as rationale choice theory, liberalism and North American concepts of the individual--Razack calls into question issues as diverse as disability, immigration and progressive education. A varied and fascinating read, indeed.

Not only is Razack's work on target, but, utilizing "narrative for social change," she is also accessible and practical. The chapters are easily divided into works that can be read alone--although, I recommend a quick skim through the first chapter for background.

A fantastic read--I highly recommend it.

PS--I don't hate men. I am white and straight and work for a large corporation. My fist is not in the air, right now.

Rating:
Summary: What a waste of trees!
Review: She should not have massacred precious trees to print this.
What an ecological shame.