Faces At The Bottom Of The Well: The Permanence Of Racism [Paperback]

Derrick Bell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 1993

The noted civil rights activist uses allegory and historical example to present a radical vision of the persistence of racism in America. These essays shed light on some of the most perplexing and vexing issues of our day: affirmative action, the disparity between civil rights law and reality, the “racist outbursts” of some black leaders, the temptation toward violent retaliation, and much more.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In nine grim metaphorical sketches, Bell, the black former Harvard law professor who made headlines recently for his one-man protest against the school's hiring policies, hammers home his controversial theme that white racism is a permanent, indestructible component of our society. Bell's fantasies are often dire and apocalyptic: a new Atlantis rises from the ocean depths, sparking a mass emigration of blacks; white resistance to affirmative action softens following an explosion that kills Harvard's president and all of the school's black professors; intergalactic space invaders promise the U.S. President that they will clean up the environment and deliver tons of gold, but in exchange, the bartering aliens take all African Americans back to their planet. Other pieces deal with black-white romance, a taxi ride through Harlem and job discrimination. Civil rights lawyer Geneva Crenshaw, the heroine of Bell's And We Are Not Saved (1987), is back in some of these ominous allegories, which speak from the depths of anger and despair. Bell now teaches at New York University Law School.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Bell, in the news because he is on leave from Harvard Law School to protest its never having hired a tenured black woman, has written a provocative and creative book that nicely follows his And We Are Not Saved ( LJ 8/87). His "interweaving of fact and fiction" and an "unorthodox form" make for stimulating reading and clarify for white readers the obstacles continually faced by black Americans and the miseries they endlessly endure. No other book features, as does this one, a Racial Preference Licensing Act, Racial Data Storms, Afroatlantica Emigration, Space Traders (guess who they are coming to take away?), the Anne Frank Committee, and White Citizens for Black Survival. Bell's thoughts about Minister Louis Farrakhan and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas are a contribution to the public dialog on those figures. An especially important and relevant publication for public and academic libraries.
- Katherine Dahl, Western Illinois Univ., Macomb
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 222 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; Reprint edition (October 6, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465068146
• ISBN-13: 978-0465068142
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #65,413 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > International & World Politics > African
  • #85 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > International & World Politics > Asian

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Provocative and Thought Provoking March 11, 2012

By B. Smith

Format:Paperback

I bought this after The Space Traders was adapted for the HBO film Cosmic Slop. It was a piece of fiction that got under my skin and stayed there. The book still retains its power to shock and make you think after all these years. Even Bell himself didn't agree with the conclusions of the characters in some of the scenarios but they certainly have the power to offend, provoke and make you think about how much and how little has changed.

It sad that the faux controversy about the book and Dr. Bell's work has brought out the typical responses. It's quite telling that in our "post-racial" society Dr. Bell's work still has sting.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Creative and Insightful June 16, 2012

By Mark Levine

Format:Paperback

Anyone interested in racial matters in America over the past few decades must read both Orlando Patterson (especially The Ordeal of Integration, not his magnum opus, the very dense Slavery and Social Death, more historical and less contemporary in its focus)and Derrick Bell. They approach the subject from very different angles: Patterson largely ststistically (although he is creative in his us of statistics)and Bell--- here and in his other books--- imaginatively and (were the word not so likely to be misleading) fictionally, by way of allegory. His allegories are apt, clear, quite brilliant, cogent,readable, very much to the point, and--- I think--- definitive. I know of no other writers or analysts who approach their subject similarly, and, while I can understand traditionalists finding his angle of approach odd, I can not see any reader of this book leaving it less than stimulated, provoked, and, ultimately, persuaded. Race is a subject much written about, and often not clear-headedly. Read Derrick Bell (and, I would suggest, Orlanda Patterson) for the antidote.

50 of 79 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars The Well is a distorted mirror... March 30, 2002

By jmk444

Format:Hardcover

Harvard Law Professor Derrick Bell's book, Faces At the Bottom of the Well defines America's racial divide in terms of the book's subtitle; "The Permanence of Racism". Throughout the book, he uses fictional settings to illustrate his theory.

Derrick Bell was a controversial professor at Harvard Law, until he left over the school's refusal to hire a black female law professor. Harvard argued that other applicants had much stronger backgrounds and credentials, but Bell, a strong proponent of race based preferences, claimed that "diversity considerations" outweighed any "purely academic requirements."

After leaving Harvard, Bell was subsequently hired by NYU's Law School, where he continues his dual career as law professor and writer/activist.

Two of Bell's most vivid fictions involve blackmailing Space Aliens and a fictional land call Afrolantica. In the first scenario, the Aliens demand that all the blacks in America be handed over to them, so that they can be taken back to their planet. They refuse to divulge what they intend to do with America's black citizens. In exchange the remaining Americans will be given enough gold to eliminate taxes for a year and the technology needed to eradicate all of the effects of pollution. There is also the hint of violence if America's blacks aren't turned over.

In the second scenario, a fantasy about a fictional land called "Afrolantica," an island upon which only black people can survive and where white people can't even breathe, starts a controversy. Some blacks argue that all American blacks should move there and start their own nation, many whites support that plan.

Bell asks some interesting questions with this book, "How deep are the ties that bind us a nation?"..."How close to the surface are our grievances and distrusts?"

The problem with Bell's thesis is that it is limited by its complete one-sidedness. To Bell an Irish-American who seeks to live in a predominantly Irish neighborhood, or a Chinese-American who decides to reside in China Town, NYC are suspected "racists," while a black-American who chooses to reside in Harlem is not.

Contrary to Bell's assertions, the fact that most people identify with one ethnic group or another is merely a fact, not an indictment. That many people feel more comfortable among people more "like them" than not, is not an indictment either. What Derrick Bell is most guilty of is "Special Pleading" or perceiving anything that benefits "his side" or his point of view, as "good" and all that runs counter to that, "bad." As a result his writing takes on a harsh and bitter tone that often makes him appear as guilty of the bigotry he condemns in others.

If Bell's intention was to use the image of "the well" as a mirror, in order to force his readers to examine the racism that continues to exist, he has failed, because his own bitterness colors his arguments with decidedly racist observations and attitudes.

Bells' strength lies in asking questions, his weakness is that he offers no answers and in fact accepts the inevitability of racism. His writing pales in comparison to other contemporary scholars who've dealt with the isue of race in America, such as Thomas Sowell and Walter E Williams.