Prophetic Reflections: Notes on Race and Power in America (Beyond Eurocentrism and Multiculturalism) [Paperback]

Cornel West (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Common Courage Pr (January 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156751006X
• ISBN-13: 978-1567510065
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #444,174 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not West's finest work, December 2, 1999

By 

Al Kihano (Iskandria) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prophetic Reflections: Notes on Race and Power in America (Beyond Eurocentrism and Multiculturalism) (Hardcover)

There are some medium-high points in this volume, but in general the quality of the work is not what I would expect from one of the US's preeminent scholar on race relations. I would describe the tone of this work as very *comfortable*--too comfortable to engage his readers fully. The pieces seem thrown together rather haphazardly, and none really advances much of a claim. For better work by West, try _Keeping Faith_ or his new _Cornel West Reader_.

5.0 out of 5 stars FURTHER INCISIVE OBSERVATIONS FROM WEST (esp. about religion), December 29, 2010

By 

Steven H. Propp (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Prophetic Reflections: Notes on Race and Power in America (Beyond Eurocentrism and Multiculturalism) (Paperback)

Cornel West (born 1953) is a Professor at Princeton, a philosopher, magnificent speaker, best-selling author (e.g., Race Matters, Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism, The American Evasion of Philosophy: A Genealogy of Pragmatism (Wisconsin Project on American Writers), Ethical Dimensions of Marxism, etc.), and preeminent "public intellectual."

This 1993 book is "Volume 1" (see Prophetic Reflections: Notes on Race and Power in America (Beyond Eurocentrism and Multiculturalism)). West writes in the Introduction, "My aim in these two volumes is to present in clear, succinct and primarily SPOKEN language a prophetic vision of what is worth fighting and dying for as this century comes to a close. I accent the ORAL character of these pieces not simply because most of them are uncut speeches and interviews, but also because they are efforts to connect in a more intimate way with fellow citizens in a conversational mode---much like a prophetic black preacher soliciting critical response from an open-minded yet suspicious congregation."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"America has always been deeply xenophobic and a land of relative opportunity." (Pg. 10)
"(Black colleges) credentialize people that would not ordinarily have access to colleges. But these institutions remain separate from the predominantly white elite institutions in that they cannot provide access ... to elite corporate institutions in this society." (Pg. 11)
"There is no reason why working people, or black people, or women or anybody else should not be able to balance individual initiative with collective action. They go hand in hand." (Pg. 14)
"If I am in any way prophetic, a prophet without metaphysics, what I mean by that is that I am fairly historicist in my own formulations about how we go about understanding the Real and the Truth, and hence I am talking more in terms of tradition and community than I do simply of truths and facts. So you are absolutely right, I have a VERY strong anti-metaphysical bent." (Pg. 51)
"Now, as a Christian, I do this against the backdrop of certain narratives, the Gospel, the synoptic Gospel narratives, but again there is no metaphysical underbearing." (Pg. 69)
"My own Christianity is not simply instrumentalist. It is in part a response to those dimensions of life that have been flattened out, to the surface-like character of a postmodern culture that refuses to speak to issues of the absurd. To that extent I still find Christian narratives and stories empowering and enabling." (Pg. 91)
"On the one hand, Christians must uphold their Christian identity while entering social movements and political organizations. On the other hand, a Christian should not become so preoccupied with one's Christian self that it separates him/her from the social struggle." (Pg. 193)