A Question of Manhood: A Reader in U.S. Black Men's History and

Rating:
Summary: Excellent articles on black manhood
Review: It is hard to find a historical reader which deals with this area. Most are about the philosophical or print images. While some try to say all of black history is about black manhood, that is not accurate. This reader is important because it deals with manhood in a systematic, historical way, using historical methodology. The first vol. is excellent. I await the second.

Rating:
Summary: A Question of Manhood: A Reader in U.S. Black Men's History
Review: It was an immense pleasure to read A Question of Manhood. This trail blazing and illuminating anthology of black men's history and masculinity will surely prompt many, perhaps grudgingly at times, to abandon some of their long held beliefs about the nature of the experiences of black males in American history. This excellent collection of essays will remind lay readers and scholars that a gendered analysis of women and men's history is not optional but quite necessary. Indeed, this book examines the critical role that the intersection of gender, race, and class has played in the lives of black men in American history. A Question of Manhood examines American culture at the macro level by using family, work, sexuality, and social reform movements to provide context to an unprecedented black male history.

One of this books primary strengths is its ability to underscore the strength, creativity, character, and fluid nature of black masculinity throughout early American history; an appraisal which thankfully subverts the popular myth of the nihilistic, irresponsible, ravaging black male. The book's "juice," however, flows from its ability to elucidate the impact of African cultural antecedents upon African American concepts of masculinity, resistance as a racialized as well as gendered phenomenon, and occupations, such as barbering, as frequent axis' of African American male articulations of masculinity and "blackness". Magnificently constructed, this book stands as a sensitive yet powerful testament to the dynamism of black men's history. Straight forward, devoid of superfluous jargon, and replete with substantive analysis, this anthology will certainly appeal to a wide audience. Academicians and lay readers will fine this work enlightening, lucid, and timely.

Rating:
Summary: A Question of Manhood: A Reader in U.S. Black Men's History
Review: It was an immense pleasure to read A Question of Manhood. This trail blazing and illuminating anthology of black men's history and masculinity will surely prompt many, perhaps grudgingly at times, to abandon some of their long held beliefs about the nature of the experiences of black males in American history. This excellent collection of essays will remind lay readers and scholars that a gendered analysis of women and men's history is not optional but quite necessary. Indeed, this book examines the critical role that the intersection of gender, race, and class has played in the lives of black men in American history. A Question of Manhood examines American culture at the macro level by using family, work, sexuality, and social reform movements to provide context to an unprecedented black male history.

One of this books primary strengths is its ability to underscore the strength, creativity, character, and fluid nature of black masculinity throughout early American history; an appraisal which thankfully subverts the popular myth of the nihilistic, irresponsible, ravaging black male. The book's "juice," however, flows from its ability to elucidate the impact of African cultural antecedents upon African American concepts of masculinity, resistance as a racialized as well as gendered phenomenon, and occupations, such as barbering, as frequent axis' of African American male articulations of masculinity and "blackness". Magnificently constructed, this book stands as a sensitive yet powerful testament to the dynamism of black men's history. Straight forward, devoid of superfluous jargon, and replete with substantive analysis, this anthology will certainly appeal to a wide audience. Academicians and lay readers will fine this work enlightening, lucid, and timely.