The All-American Skin Game, or Decoy of Race: The Long and the Short of It, 1990-1994 [Paperback]

Stanley Crouch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 14, 1997

In this brilliantly acerbic collection of essays--a New York Times Notable Book in 1995--Stanley Crouch confirms that he is one of the most eloquent and unpredictable commentators on race and culture in American society--something already known to anyone who's seen him on 60 Minutes or read his columns in The Village Voice and The New Republic. 288 pp. National media appearances.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Always brilliant, ever-controversial, and very often surprising, Stanley Crouch offers trenchant essays on topics including jazz (he was for many years the jazz critic for the Village Voice), American literature, gangsta rap, modern American films and the issue of race. Crouch may startle with some of his opinions, but the clarity of his prose and the intelligence of his arguments ensure that the reader will understand why he holds his outspoken opinions. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

In speeches, essays and reviews from publications like the New Republic, Crouch (Notes of a Hanging Judge) offers eloquent, pungent takes on racial politics, literature, film and music. The author made his name as a jazz critic, and he invokes jazz to proclaim that our society's "multiple miscegenations" are proof and source of enduring vitality and renewal. Thus, he has no truck with racial balkanizers or those who claim rapsters as the soul of black authenticity. A disciple of Ralph Ellison, he hails the recently departed writer as "a citizen of this nation" and argues that black filmmakers must develop a more nuanced American vision. Crouch's deconstruction of Miles Davis, his sympathy for Quentin Tarantino, his celebration of novelist Leon Forrest?all make good reading. So what's missing? Crouch's view of a practical politics to engage and enhance his oft-invoked democratic vistas.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (January 14, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679776605
• ISBN-13: 978-0679776604
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 5.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,087,361 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Politically-incorrect and passionate: Crouch hard to ignore., November 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The All-American Skin Game, or Decoy of Race: The Long and the Short of It, 1990-1994 (Paperback)

Crouch has a long history as a politically incorrect commentator on the vexed questions of race & victim politics. From what he calls "the Afrocentric hustle" to the real "race card" played in the O.J. Simpson trial; a stunning suite of essays in praise of Ralph Ellison; and how the Constitution is like the blues, I found my self in passionate agreement & furious dissent - often within the same sentence. For pure verve, style & energy Crouch is possibly the only writer who stands with Camille Paglia as a thinker who is hard to like but impossible to ignore.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the long and the short of it, January 30, 2001

By 

J. Toth "Readasarus Rex" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The All-American Skin Game, or Decoy of Race: The Long and the Short of It, 1990-1994 (Paperback)

american's of all ages and colors should feel indebted to Mr. Crouch for writing some of the most interesting commentary on our american cultural scene. it is because crouch understands so well the basic promise and opportunity of american life that he can weave such wide-ranging and often disparate opinion without losing touch with the reality of the culture. most importantly, crouch establishes himself as part of the great triad of negro americans - along with the novelist albert murray and trumpet virtuoso wynton marsalis who seek to recommit americans to the power and complexity of our national music: jazz. this can only be done by tossing some left hooks at our great national embarrassment: namely the nihilism and materialism of modern popular music, especially rap music. the fact that this music has been co-opted by white suburban kids shows that it has long been a bankrupt and impotent force whose only purpose is to further depress the culture for the enrichment of a few. crouch is calling on americans of all stripes to turn their back on the 'electronic judgement day' of the mass media and the self-serving race-hustlers of the academic and literary establishment and rededicate the culture to jazz and literature based on the 'tragic optimism' that has always been at the heart of jazz/blues music and american culture. count me in.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, October 29, 2002

By 

Ken Mask (New Orleans, La, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The All-American Skin Game, or Decoy of Race: The Long and the Short of It, 1990-1994 (Paperback)

Crouch continues to prove beyond any doubt to be an individual with the highest standard of literary precision. His insight into the human condition and clearness of thought are peerless in American correspndence.

Ken Mask, MD
New Orleans