Customer Reviews

The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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Cohen does an excellent job of providing a dual analysis -- one of the current state in the AIDS crisis as well as an honest look at the state of affairs of Black leaders and their inability to "fight the fight" on behalf on our communitites devasted by AIDS. Her scholarly work is provoking, courageous and long overdue. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Black politics and the REAL challenges facing the most marginal of Black communities.

The Boundaries of Blackness is a solid book which analyzes the response of black communities to the AIDS crisis. The complexity of black communities, which are so often described as a singular entity, emerges from Cohen's comprehensive but also nuanced and balanced study. I strongly recommend this book!

Rarely, if ever, does a reader encounter an analysis of black politics, of the AIDS crisis, or of government response to either that addresses such issues in a textured and multi-dimensional way. Cohen's book is an anomaly in that it acknowledges and builds upon those complexities while constructing an argument that does not end with them. Boundaries is a great, informative read and a must-have on the bookshelf of anyone who considers themselves a critical thinker.

I was reluctant to read or buy this book because I figured that a) I didn't want to hear a white person trash 'the' black community, and b) I didn't want to read a political science book that couldn't possibly cover any new ground on AIDS that fiction writers and progressive activists haven't already done. Fortunately, I was surprised on both fronts. Cohen is an African-American woman (she never explains how she got the last name Cohen) and does try to be mindful of being 'another black academic out to trash black folks' (xi). In addition, she provides a poli. sci. framework in which to look at how African-Americans prioritized or failed to prioritize AIDS that I think could be used to analyze numerous other issues. Cohen investigates black people's response to AIDS through medicine, the press, religious organization, and the Congress from 1981 to 1993. The book is not perfect. Chapters are completely misnamed. (One chapter about the 'dreaded bisexual' only discussed bisexual men for a page at most.) She at times is overly critical of black institutions. (She often states that the black press never covered HIV+ black gay men or HIV+ women activists and I can think of numerous articles in the magazines she examines which actually did what she wanted.) Nevertheless, this was an incredible book. I encourage everyone to purchase it, especially those interested in black gay issues or African-American studies.

Cathy adduces an interesting and innovative argument by detailing the way in which the black political heirarchy reacted to the AIDS epidemic and comes to the conclusion that black political leadership is flawed. I don't want to give away too much of her argument, but I must say I disagree with her. That being said, it is still a must read.