Customer Reviews

The Cornel West Reader

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I bought this collection of Cornel West's writings without knowing what to expect. In fact, it is an amazing compending of his best writings over the years. The best parts of the collection are the introductions that West writes to each of the pieces. He tells us the intellectual influences behind each piece, as well as how they represent his reaction to a particular time and a particular intellectual climate. It's a pity more public intellectuals don't take the time to do a work like this. I can't recommend it enough.

Those interested in the leading black intellectual in America should pick up either "Race Matters," or for a few extra clams, this tome, which collects West's musings on all kinds of topics from politics to religion to the arts. If you're not used to West's style, his verbosity and habitual name-dropping may irritate you. But if you can endure some of his excesses, this book will give you the definitive look at a rare breed of thinker -- one that I only describe as a "jazz intellectual," or an intellectual with "soul." And for you "colorblind" advocates, NO, that's not necessarily a "black" thing, but sure, "black" can have something to do with it.

I especially enjoyed West's riffs on Christianity. While I ultimately don't share his views ("Chekhovian Christian" is how he describes it), I must say that West gives me as much insight on how to live as a Christian in this world as any "true-believer" out there.

Finally, a note re the negative reviews: Humans are self-contradicting folk, and West is the quintessential example: a Christian that espouses Marx, Chekhov, and Beckett; an intellectual that digs soul music; let's be straight -- a black in "the academy." But those that don't see the contradictions in their own existences need to smell some coffee, or move out of Kansas. So, unlike the unhappy campers below, I don't see West's philosophy as meaningless and frustrating, but authentic and empowering. In short, West "keeps it real." That's the only kind of "intellectual" that matters to me; the rest can stay on the bookshelf, gathering dust.

As an avowed atheist, I don't care for much of the content at work in West's treatment's of various cultural phenomena. I disagree with him on most of his more important ideas. And he isn't as critical of urban black culture as he should be (I think, and therein lies my own bias), given his own Chehkovian-Christian foundation...

But if we read only the thinkers with whom we had profound agreement- what would that make of our perceptions? Without dialogue there is no community...

He deals with the seemingly contradictory elements at work in the human character in an interesting, if psuedo-absurdist fashion. And his optimism isn't a naive optimism, though, as I mentioned before, I think he has on cultural blinders. I also thinks he tends to romanticize various nihilisic phenomena deeply entrenched in black culture- his dalliance with hip-hop belies both his idealization of that culture and his need to be appreciated as 'authentic' by modern black America, a culture that seems (at least to me) to be quite anti-intellectual in any respects. How does a Harvard Doctor transcend his own thoughtful nature in order to initiate dialogue with both sides of the racial divide in America? Let's be honest here, America is a country that has bee, is and most likely always will be deeply obseessed with questions of race and identity. This puts Dr. West in an interesting position and it's illuminating to watch him wrestle with both the angels and demons of his fate...

I should add that Dr. West is a highly original and incisive thinker, a fine literary craftsman, and, I think, a boldly provocative scholar, in his own right, especially considering that he works within that bloated uber-vampire of university-systems, Harvard... Ultimately, his views enrich my own and enable me to more fully articulate my diffrences with him.

Finally, his thoughts on aesthetics (his insights into Chehkov are probably the most interesting of the non-russian treatments) and the black experience (as when he writes on Coltrane) are sublime. Whenever I put this book down, I am smiling.

This book is a tour de force, a virtual Kamikazee attack, a guerilla assault on the lazy or indifferent American progressive intellect.

Self-described "Chekhovian Christian," Public Philosopher, Cultural and Literary Critique, Christian Minister, Democratic Socialist, Radical Democrat, and Princeton Professor, Cornel West uses this book to extend his existential journey into better understanding (and as a partial response to), what he sees as the deep and unnecessary misery and suffering seen in the richest culture in the world. He does this by exploring the intellectual and existential resources needed to continue to feed our courage for the fight over the long-haul towards achieving real democracy.

Much of his quest is directed at answering three basic questions: What does it mean in a radically contingent and fragile world to be: human, modern, and American?

West answer those questions in the following way:

To be human means: enduring with dignity and honesty the existential incongruities and sufferings of life, including the inevitability of death -- and still being able to maintain the courage to continue the battle for a separate identity, freedom and equality.

To be modern is to: have the courage to use one's intelligence to first see and then engage in a conscious and constructive process of questioning and challenging the prevailing authorities, powers and hierarchies of the society. It means not giving in to the easy certainties of ideologies and false prophecies; and being ever conscious of the modalities of self-making and the self-creating possibilities of those who suffer.

To be American means to: be consciously engaged in a fragile experiment in which democratic dialogue sits precariously at the center of all self-making and self-creating projects -- projects that with sufficient energy, self-reliance, boldness and restlessness, can open up vast possibilities for those truly committed to democratic principles. It is to have unrestrained hope for a future that can transcend any troubled past; yet it also means living side-by-side with pervasive mendacity, cruel contradictions, and stage-managed hypocrisy. To be American is to raise (but leave unanswered) the most frightening of democratic questions: What does the public interest have to do with the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our society?

And this is just for starters.

In explaining how he came to this mature intellectual and existential perspective, West chronicles his intellectual and spiritual development, and here there are many surprises. One cannot safely tuck West into any old box with the familiar labels: Christian, Black, Marxist, Public Intellectual, etc., for he is not only careful but has come to his development though hard work, insight and deeply felt human awareness. Calling himself a Chekhovian Christian is no accident any more than calling himself a Democratic Socialist, or a Radical Democrat, is. These things are not only what he embraces but are also who he is. But, whether intentional or not, they also serve to "distance" him from the normal categories these labels typically apply to.

For instance, a Chekhovian Christian cannot be confused with those who use the Christian label as a "get-out-hell free card," and as a way to immunize themselves against the "sins of others." Being a Chekhovian Christian is refusing to be imprisoned and walled-in by intentionally inflicted misery. It is to wake up each day with a new strategy for survival.

Being a "Democratic socialist;" again is not just a knee-jerk ideological label but is the result of a status carefully cultivated and carved out by West after traveling a difficult and precarious intellectual path to a clearing somewhere in the middle of a vast Marxist intellectual dessert. His Marxism is in fact as much a reinterpretation of Marx's on ethical teachings, as it is traditional Marxism. The areas upon which West's Marxism ideas are based, are so obscure and profound that most everyday card-carrying Marxists have never heard of them.

And of course, his designation of being a Radical Democrat, is arrived at by simply transposing the label of the pre-Reconstruction Radical Republicans, to today's under-Radicalized Democrats, which not only are not radical, but are card-carrying "Lite Republicans."

All of what I have reviewed so far gets one up to about page 11, and already I feel like I could pass a Phd orals in Philosophy, Sociology, Political Science, Social Theory, and Literary Criticism.

There are not enough stars in the universe to evaluate and properly judge this book.

Amen.

I've read a lot about Cornel West--both positive and negative. I bought this book so that I could understand what he was about, and I wasn't disappointed. I really liked his introductions to the essays and the way the book was divided up. I recommend it highly.

One of the most engaging collections on the development of a public intellectual. Ever since he was my instructor at Union Theological Seminary in New York City in 1978, I have followed Cornel West's intellectual development. His authentic and honest voice is a refreshing respite from most academic jargon in the political, social, and spiritual realms. His struggle to articulate and synthesize major trends that have influenced America, democracy, race, religion, and politics in the past two decades is uncannily inspiring. I continue to learn from West that to come to terms with my own development as both object and subject in this modern world is my primary work.

If you're a fan of his work, particularly his excellent "Race Matters", you may find this book a little daunting. Spots of it are the West we see on TV and embraced by rappers and activists (even features a TV interview w/ Bill Moyers, which West admits blew him up in the public eye), but a good deal of it is the hard-core scholarshiup that keeps the respect of his peers...even the ones who probably don't like him. If you're looking for an introduction into his work, get "Race Matters". This is for the fan seeking to trace where West has been coming from.

Why is Cornel West interesting to philosophically-minded as well as non-philosophical readers at a time when many distinguished theorists are not?

I think because he is sincere. One senses a genuine struggle in the man to put himself down on paper, to write of his uncertainties and inner divisions as an African-American intellectual, a product of elite institutions (like Harvard, or Princeton, where he now teaches), who has risen from middle class roots and understands the struggles of ordinary people for survival and dignity.

Professor West appreciates and embodies the multiplicity and variability of his age: He draws on -- because he UNDERSTANDS -- third world intellectual movements and thinkers, such as liberation theology and the writings of Gustavo Gutierrez as well as the work of the Brazilian-born Harvard Law Professor Roberto Unger, who is his collaborator; he makes use of his African-American intellectual legacy derived from figures like W.E. B. Du Bois and (for me) Baldwin, as well as great spiritual leaders like Dr. King; he is fully conversant with the high tradition of American "pragmatist" philosophical work in the writings of James, Peirce, Dewey -- and I hope that, someday, he will also write about GEORGE SANTAYANA.

He explores his own autobiographical and existential challenges as a way of establishing his shared humanity with the reader. This is one human being reaching out to others. Checkov and Christianity, William James and Malcolm, Kolakowski and many others drift through these pages -- including, in my judgment, some unexplored influences: Spinoza and maybe also Kierkegaard.

This is a fine collection by an important American philosopher. Get it.

I have read Cornell Wests' biopic materials and have come to appreciate the Voice Crying in the wilderness. America is better because we have authors like Cornell who are willing to address issues not considered popular with such lucid and prolific treatment.

People have a lot to learn from reading his insightful approach to race and relations.

More power to Cornell West.

if you wish to understand, buy this book. west is a genius and his essays, poetry and interviews are a must for anyone wishing to participate in the practice of diversity. dr. west is, in my mind, the most gifted intellectual in america today - i have learned so many things from the man and his writings. he stretches my imagination and pushes me to a greater appreciation for the pursuit of understanding. i hope you feel as deeply indebted to the man after reading this tome.