Class Notes

by Reed, Adolph L., Jr.

• ISBN13: 9781565846753
• ISBN10: 1565846753
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-07-01
• Publisher: New Pr

Summary

Hailed by Publishers Weekly for its "forceful" and "bracing opinions on race and politics", Class Notes is critic Adolph Reed, Jr.'s latest blast of clear thinking on matters of race, class, and other American dilemmas. The book begins with a consideration of the theoretical and practical strategies of the U.S. left over the last three decades: Reed argues against the solipsistic approaches of cultural or identity politics, and in favor of class-based political interpretation and action.

Class Notes moves on to tackle race relations, ethnic studies, family values, welfare reform, the so-called underclass, and black public intellectuals in essays called "head-spinning" and "brilliantly executed" by David Levering Lewis.

Adolph Reed, Jr. has earned a national reputation for his controversial evaluations of American politics. These essays illustrate why people like Katha Pollitt consider Reed "the smartest person of any race, class, or gender writing on race, class, and gender".

Author Biography

Adolph Reed, Jr. is a professor of political science at the New School for Social Research

Table of Contents

Preface	v
Introduction	vii
PART I--Issues in Black Public Life
Why Is There No Black Political Movement?	3	(7)
The Curse of ``Community''	10	(4)
Romancing Jim Crow	14	(11)
Have We Exhaled Yet?	25	(4)
We Were Framed	29	(4)
What Color Is Antisemitism?	33	(4)
The Rise of Louis Farrakhan	37	(24)
Triumph of the Tuskegee Will	61	(3)
Martyrs and False Populists	64	(7)
Tokens of the White Left	71	(6)
``What Are the Drums Saying, Booker?'': The Curious Role of the Black Public Intellectual	77	(16)
PART II--Equality & Ideology in American Politics
The Underclass Myth	93	(8)
Pimping Poverty, Then and Now	101	(8)
Liberals, I Do Despise	109	(4)
Kiss the Family Good-bye	113	(6)
A Polluted Debate	119	(5)
Nasty Habits	124	(4)
A Livable Wage	128	(5)
Token Equality	133	(6)
Skin Deep	139	(5)
The Content of Our Cardiovascular	144	(4)
Looking Backward	148	(19)
PART III--The Question of Practice
Posing As Politics	167	(4)
Ethnic Studies and Pluralist Politics	171	(9)
The Battle of Liberty Monument	180	(7)
Looking Back at Brown	187	(5)
Sectarians on the Prowl	192	(4)
``Fayettenam,'' 1969: Tales from a G.I. Coffeehouse	196	(7)
The Longer March	203	(4)
Building Solidarity	207