First published in 1992 at the height of the furor over the Rodney King incident; Studs Terkel’s Race was an immediate bestseller. Offering a rare and revealing look at how people in America truly feel about race; Terkel’s candid interviews depict a complexity of thoughts and emotions and uncover a fascinating narrative of changing opinions. Preachers and street punks; college students and Klansmen; pioneering interracial couples; the nephew of the founder of apartheid; and Emmett Till’s mother are among those whose voices appear in Race. In all; nearly one hundred Americans talk openly about what few are willing to admit in public: feelings about affirmative action; gentrification; secret prejudices; and dashed hopes. This reissue of Race comes at a particularly dynamic time in the history of American race relations. Our first black president; rapidly shifting immigration and population patterns; and the rising force of multiracialism all necessitate a narrative around race that is more nuanced than ever before. Yet many of the issues we have grappled with over the past few decades remain to be solved. Gary Younge; a longtime columnist for The Guardian and The Nation; provides a new introduction to Race that serves to contextualize it; rendering it relevant to these contemporary frameworks; while paying homage to a keystone piece of oral history on a uniquely American subject.
#873258 in Books 2016-01-19 2016-01-19Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.50 x 1.00 x 5.87l; 1.00 #File Name: 1594204381320 pages
Review
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. decency and good manners are the normBy Daniel H. BrownA touching memoir of a devoted couple by an admiring grandson told primarily through letters the grandparents wrote to each other. The classical music loving; upper middle class; highly moral Schlesingers were thoroughly English in a way now vanished. “The superiority of Englishness; to my grandparents; was never in doubt.†Their superiority “would be more often expressed by being especially polite to foreigners; while being careful not to seem patronizing.â€The Schlesingers were born into wealthy; religious German Jewish families who probably came to England in the 1870s. The Schlesingers; while never fully abandoning their religion or their German heritage; were proudly English.It is a pleasure reading a book where restraint; decency and good manners are the norm.6 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Yes; this is how life was for educated Jews in England in the first half of the 20th centuryBy Ann M. AltmanYes. My parents were Jewish refugees in England; arriving in 1939. My father fought with the British and married my mother at the end of the war. I grew up in England; leaving after college. Ian Buruma's book examines and describes; accurately and sensitively; the efforts made by his Jewish grandparents to be English but never to deny their Jewish heritage during the decades that preceded my parents' arrival in England and during World War 2. In the 20th century; Jews in England (myself included!) fitted in but... not quite. Buruma's grandparents (and my parents) were never oblivious of the debt that they owed to their adopted country but they recognized and accepted the undercurrent of antisemitism - Buruma's grandfather could not get a position at any of the prestigious hospitals in London; my father felt similarly discriminated against at a certain point in his life. At the same time; all of these so-called assimilated Jews had and expressed their own snobbery about Jews of all social classes who exhibited the characteristics that antisemites are so quick to hold up for ridicule (and worse). Anyone interested in the life of English Jews during the last century will find much of interest in this book. It is written with warmth and love but is rigorous and does not shy away from sometimes unfavorable analysis.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. The Issues of Identity Explored.in Historical ContextBy dohA striking history of a German Jewish couple; born in England and expressing their feelings about belonging to England while exhibiting mixed emotions about their Jewish identity--not rejecting it but being critical of other Jews whose actions they feel opens their group to opprobrium. They also reflect the cultural attitudes of their English context in terms of race and gender; but in a complicated way that the author managed to convey well to the reader. As a study of issues of identity as well as the story of two real people and their family loyalties; it makes for compelling reading.
