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Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America

by John McWhorter

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A polemical argument about race, culture, and self-determination

$17.19 USD
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Paperback New English

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AlbakiReads Editorial

A polemical argument about race, culture, and self-determination

John McWhorter examines persistent racial inequality and identity debates in post–Civil Rights-era America through a deliberately confrontational lens. Framing his argument around what he calls victimology, separatism, and anti-intellectualism, he contends that these cultural patterns can obstruct Black Americans’ pursuit of educational and economic opportunity. The book places individual and community attitudes at the center of its analysis, challenging explanations that treat racism as the sole defining force in Black American life. Published in 2001, it is a focused contribution to debates over structural barriers, personal agency, assimilation, and the role of intellectual life within Black communities.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in African American studies and debates on race in the United States
  • Those seeking a provocative, argument-driven perspective on culture and social mobility
  • Readers exploring discussions of racism, agency, and post–Civil Rights America

Themes

Race and racismPersonal agencyBlack American identityEducation and anti-intellectualismSocial mobility

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

Why do so many African Americans--even comfortably middle-class ones--continue to see racism as a defining factor in their lives?

Columbia University linguistics professor John McWhorter, born at the dawn of the post-Civil Rights era, spent years trying to make sense of this question. In this book he dared to say the unsayable: racism's ugliest legacy is the disease of defeatism that has infected Black America. Losing the Race explores the three main components of this cultural virus: the cults of victimology, separatism, and anti-intellectualism that are making Black people their own worst enemies in the struggle for success. With Losing the Race, a bold new voice rises among Black intellectuals.

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