Afraid of the Dark: What Whites and Blacks Need to Know About Each Other

Rating:
Summary: an update to this book
Review: fathered a child out of wedlock while giving advice to clinton how to be slick.

Rating:
Summary: At Once Frightening and Inspiring
Review: I recently read this book after feeling lost in my understanding of "race" relations in America. This book cleared up a lot of details for me and in so doing illuminated a few of the ways in which American discourse on "race" can be improved. However, after seeing the numbers as Myers so thoroughly lays out, I am incredulous that such discourse will enter the public arena any time soon.

Rating:
Summary: BRILLIANT discusssion of vital Aspect of American Life
Review: I recently read this book after feeling lost in my understanding of "race" relations in America. This book cleared up a lot of details for me and in so doing illuminated a few of the ways in which American discourse on "race" can be improved. However, after seeing the numbers as Myers so thoroughly lays out, I am incredulous that such discourse will enter the public arena any time soon.

Rating:
Summary: an update to this book
Review: Not since Andrew Hacker has a white author been as conversant and intuitive about both sides of the race issue in America. Jim Meyers presents both black and white 'world views' thoroughly and fairly and without rose colored glasses--a feat not often accomplished by privileged whites. In my experience, black authors write from a more reality-based position than do whites, but Meyers obviously walks the walk.

Meyers guides the reader through a variety of situations in which we all find ourselves. Of particular interest to me was his discussion of how a person of color might feel upon meeting a white stranger and vice-versa. How might each person be feeling, what might they be thinking, how are they conditioned to respond, which self-preservation behaviors kick in? Useful information for those of us who try, as best we can, to encourage cross racial and cross cultural friendships and understanding.

Icon charts incorporated throughout this book provide powerful, at-a-glance imagery of the ratios of blacks to whites in America and help illustrate why some blacks may be hesitant to speak their minds in certain social settings. Since much race-related literature speak in abstract terms, Mr. Meyers use of math and numbers is also a powerful learning tool.

Like the author, I am also a white person previously married to a black spouse who surrounds myself with friends of all ethnicities. I believe race relations is the single most important issue facing America today. I give Jim Meyers credit for presenting this topic in a fresh, conversational way that is easy to read and very enlightening.

I recommend this book to people of all races who want answers to questions that many may find too difficult to ask in the real world.

Rating:
Summary: A MUST for every library; a jewel of a book!
Review: This book is VERY interesting and provocative...I kept finding myself reading bits of it aloud to friends. It also made me want to ask for comments on its material from people of all races. Though Mr. Myers provides a lot of fascinating, and enlightening, statistical information, I occasionally wondered how reliable it was....Numbers can't tell the whole story, and a given set statistics can be interpreted in many ways. I don't think that Mr. Myers is a particularly able writer. He generates a lot of hashed metaphors ("...tumbled into the abyss filled with...." "Abysses" AREN'T filled, they're voids, empty spaces, gaps. That's what makes them abysses, Jim.), and sometimes writes in a cute, snappy style which is at odds with the nature of his material. However, the vast amount of interesting and valuable information makes it worth the reader's while to skim over these cosmetic defects.

Rating:
Summary: BRILLIANT discusssion of vital Aspect of American Life
Review: This book, by Jim Myers, is an insightful probe into US race relations. Well-written and meticulously researched, Afraid of the Dark is an essential guide for all interested in the color divide.