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Summary: What is Cornel West all about?
Review: I've read a lot about Cornel West--both positive and negative. I bought this book so that I could understand what he was about, and I wasn't disappointed. I really liked his introductions to the essays and the way the book was divided up. I recommend it highly.
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Summary: For fans of West's work, not casual reading
Review: If you're a fan of his work, particularly his excellent "Race Matters", you may find this book a little daunting. Spots of it are the West we see on TV and embraced by rappers and activists (even features a TV interview w/ Bill Moyers, which West admits blew him up in the public eye), but a good deal of it is the hard-core scholarshiup that keeps the respect of his peers...even the ones who probably don't like him. If you're looking for an introduction into his work, get "Race Matters". This is for the fan seeking to trace where West has been coming from.
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Summary: Right frame of mind.
Review: Is he a carrerist? I don't know.Are his politics relevant?Very much so. Many assert that West's rhetoric and ruminations are irrelevant because racism isn't as "bad" as it used to be.Most of these critics are sheltered whites who don't come into contact with blacks or even attempt to take on an objective viewpoint about race.I imagine race relations are even worse than thirty years ago. Now everything is hidden and relegated to closed doors. Many whites assert that they never use the word nigger, but when they see "uppity" liberal African Americans such as Sharpton and West they certainly think it. If you want to gain a foothold in the political arena you better think white and act white,or else you're demonized by the media, liberal or conservative.
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Summary: PC
Review: It continues to amaze me how a supposedly prestigious University like Harvard puts people like Dershowitz and West out front. These gentleman are not so much scholars, as political propagandists for a thouroughly subjective agenda. Shameful.
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Summary: Great Plane Reading
Review: On a six-hour flight, this book kept me company. I especially enjoyed West's thoughts on the relationship between blacks and jews and the definition of black people in the context of a multicultural society. I thought his discussion of black music could have been expanded or left out entirely. It served very small purpose since many other cultural critics delve more broadly on the subject. But, as a whole, I found the selections insightful as always.
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Summary: The development of a mind
Review: One of the most engaging collections on the development of a public intellectual. Ever since he was my instructor at Union Theological Seminary in New York City in 1978, I have followed Cornel West's intellectual development. His authentic and honest voice is a refreshing respite from most academic jargon in the political, social, and spiritual realms. His struggle to articulate and synthesize major trends that have influenced America, democracy, race, religion, and politics in the past two decades is uncannily inspiring. I continue to learn from West that to come to terms with my own development as both object and subject in this modern world is my primary work.
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Summary: An important survey of modern American society and times
Review: Students of contemporary culture, Afro-American studies or philosophy alike will find the Cornel West Reader an important survey of modern American society and times. Chapters reveal and analyze facets of black experience, Marxism and race, politics and American pragmatism. An excellent guide.
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Summary: A Great Collection
Review: The great strength of this book is its variety. I enjoyed both the popular and the more scholarly pieces, though I found some of the latter quite challenging. I thought the fictional story was quite good, surprisingly. An excellent place to start if you want to understand West.
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Summary: Dross.
Review: There may be a point lurking in the undergrowth of his murky prose, but I fail to see it. This book is a complete waste of time except, perhaps, to see what havoc political correctness can wreak upon an intellect.
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Summary: A difficult read, but well worth the work!
Review: This is a wonderful, and much needed body of work. West is one of our Centuries greatest minds. Through his essays, and a few short stories, he weaves images of Black American Culture, classical philosophy, scientific theory, world history, and concepts of world religions into a tapestry of deep thought and serious innovation. He's a philospher with the "funk" of James Brown, and the fluidity of water. He compares Chekovic to Coltrane. If you want a change from the "he/she" novels of a "Jerome Dickey", try this soulful delight.
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