Being a Black Man: At the Corner of Progress and Peril

by Kevin Merida

Book Overview

Over the last 100 years, perhaps no segment of the American population has been more analyzed than black males. The subject of myriad studies and dozens of government boards and commissions, black men have been variously depicted as the progenitors of pop culture and the menaces of society, their individuality often obscured by the narrow images that linger in the public mind. Ten years after the Million Man March, the largest gathering of black men...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1586485229
• ISBN13: 9781586485221
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Being a black man

Very interesting. Most of what I read I always knew but was unable to put in words.

INSIGHTFUL...

Written by the staff of the Washington Post, this book is a compilation of a series of articles, augmented by some new material, on the issue of being a black man in America. The book offers a contemporary view on the issue and reveals how divided black men actually are on how they view themselves in the context of race. The articles are insightful, candid and highly personal, as they evolved from interviews with many black men from all walks of life and provide a birds-eye view into how black men in America currently define themselves and their lives. I was entranced by their stories. The writing is superlative, and the reader will find the introduction by Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, Edward P. Jones, quite poignant. The book also includes the results of a nationwide poll that empirically confirms what the articles declare anecdotally, that black men in contemporary America are divided on how they view themselves, each other, and their country. Those who are interested in social issues, as well as those simply interested in the human condition, will enjoy this well-written, insightful book.