<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: The Illusion of Substantive Racial Progress
Review: For the sake of full disclosure, I'm a colleague of Carol Anderson's at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Yet, notwithstanding our friendship, I can objectively state that EYES OFF THE PRIZE is must reading for individuals seeking insights as to why America's racial problems persist. More than a generation after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a disproportionate number of African Americans are undereducated, unemployed (or underemployed), and incarcerated. Anderson's exhaustively researched book persuasively suggests that the reason for continuing black inequality is that, during the crucial period covered in her book, African Americans changed (and were forced
to change) their focus from achieving HUMAN RIGHTS to achieving CIVIL RIGHTS. This is not a book for the faint-of-heart. Anderson pulls no punches in telling her story of how African Americans lost sight of the "prize" of human rights. No doubt, some will find her analysis at times to be quite provocative. Yet, as a good historian, Anderson has not written a book to make people
feel good. She has written a book to make people think.
Rating:
Summary: Understanding Race in the U.S. today
Review: This book was incredible for several reasons. As an African American, I struggle to understand why so little has changed in relations between blacks and whites in this country and more importantly, why there seems to be a deeply entrenched systemic barrier to real progress (economic, political, social and cultural) for many African Americans. Eyes off the Prize highlights the enormous difference between struggling for human rights versus concentrating solely on civil rights-I'd never really thought about the fact that those aren't the same struggles. Further, while it is obvious that the author did a tremendous amount of research, this book is a real "page turner." Much of what I learned by reading this book was far beyond what I've known previously and the book dispelled many of the myths surrounding civil rights leaders in this country. Lastly, the conclusions made sense to me-I didn't feel like I was reading a distant, scholarly book-I felt as though the author brought me along on an incredible journey of the African American struggle for dignity and fairness in a hostile land. I really enjoyed the book and gave it to all my friends and family for Christmas last year. For full disclosure, I went to high school with the author--that's why I was curious about the book--but it is certainly not why I read every word!
<< 1 >>
| 
