Racial and Ethnic Relations (7th Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Fairly one-sided text
Review: Mr. and Ms. Feagin make many fine points in this text and do a good job bringing up little known information on many groups, from Irish-Americans to Native Americans, American Jews to African Americans. The reason such little-known evidence is needed though is because the Feagins try to force their views on people. They do this by selecting only the articles and ideas that support their views, however contradictory this is. For instance, they go into great detail on explaining why various groups of white Americans are different...then turn around in other sections and assume all white Americans are identical. As much as I would like to support Mr. Feagin, many of whose views match my own, this is hard to do with his one-sided, heavy-handed approach. Not particularly recommended - David Healey's book on racial and ethnic relations is a preferable alternative.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Overview
Review: This book provides an excellent overview both of theories about racial and ethnic relations and of the experiences of various ethnic and racial groups. It is extremely sensitive to the nuances of different group experiences, but also speaks the truth about those groups--particularly Native Americans and African Americans--who have been at the bottom in relation to everyone else. When it comes to the treatment of these two groups, the nuanced differences between the other groups have often been overlooked. One must always walk carefully between (1) the obvious truth that, in U.S. history, not all whites have been the same, and (2) the other obvious truth that, when it came to the oppression of Native Americans and African Americans, whites have often been willing to overlook the differences between themselves so that, in effect, any white would do. Feagin and Feagin succeed in walking this line.