Amazon.com: Roberts Vs. Texaco:: A True Story Of Race And Corporate America (9780380796397): Bari-Ellen Roberts, Jack E. White: Books

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Roberts Vs. Texaco:: A True Story Of Race And Corporate America [Paperback]

Bari-Ellen Roberts (Author), Jack E. White (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)


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Book Description

March 9, 1999
Texaco recruited banking executive Bari-Ellen Roberts with promises of a professional challenge and advancement. But she and 1400 other African Americans faced a persistant pattern of racial discrimination so onerous that it wound up in a lawsuit-and ultimately in the largest discrimination settlement in U.S. History. This is the true story of how a giant corporation was challenged against all odds by one brave woman who was determined to stand her ground.

Here, in Bari-Ellen Roberts' own words, is the fascinating, infuriating, and ultimately triumphant account of how she acheived an electrifying result that could change the face of corporate America, including the inside story of the notorious "Texaco Tapes," which recorded senior executives making racially-charged comments while they allegedly plotted the destruction of evidence. Here is a fresh and inspiring vantage point on what is unquestionably the major civil rights battleground of the twenty-first century: the workplace. Spellbinding and eloquent, intensely personal and dramatically riveting, this is the most persuasive yet damning account of corporate racial discrimination ever written.



Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This book is a chilling account of the successful $176 million class-action racial discrimination suit brought against the Texaco corporation by Bari-Ellen Roberts and her 1,400 fellow African American colleagues. Roberts served as a senior financial analyst at Texaco from 1990 to 1997. With help from Time correspondent Jack E. White, she takes us from her Cincinnati origins to the fateful day she went to work for Texaco where she endured Neanderthal-like discrimination from her white colleagues, such as a vice president of human resources labeling her diversity-building proposals as "militant," coworkers using racial slurs such as "little colored girl," and seeing her boss in a Sambo costume at a Halloween party. Roberts tells of the stress, anger, fear, and ultimately the will it took for her to become the lead plaintiff in the case. She ultimately secured in- and out-of-court settlements with the help of a justice-oriented white executive, Richard Lundvall, who went public with taped racist comments made by his white colleagues. Like Rosa Parks, Bari-Ellen Roberts shows a courage that has benefited all Americans. --Eugene Holley Jr. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Compelling reading. . .What a story it is." -- Fortune

"Spellbinding. . .Speaks to the American experiment and marks where we stand at the end of the twentieth century." -- Washington Post Book World

"Straightforward. . .and most importantly, bravely personal." -- Chicago Tribune

Product Details

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (March 9, 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0380796392
  • ISBN-13: 978-0380796397
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #782,582 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

20 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (20 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Ignorance is Still Bliss when it comes to corporate America, November 2, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Roberts Vs. Texaco:: A True Story Of Race And Corporate America (Paperback)
I read this book and I am MORE encouraged in my own fight against a large corporation that I felt discriminated against me. Needless to say Ms. Roberts felt she had to tell her story and IN HER OWN WORDS she did so. That included recalling the trials and tribulations of her own life growing up to the present (as all these mentally damaging things were going on.) For other reviewers to say "too much about Roberts and too little about Texaco" just shows the ignorance that still exists. Her personal account reveals that racial discrimination is still happening today in THIS DAY AND AGE. If one wants to hear more about Texaco then let them read Texaco's account of what happened. Oh that's right, acccording to Texaco, they still believe that they did nothing wrong... I rather hear from the personal accounts of those involved- to see the REAL toll of what racism does to people rather than hear a bunch of corporate and legal BS.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars One Admirable Woman's Story; One Company's Shame, November 10, 2002
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This review is from: Roberts Vs. Texaco:: A True Story Of Race And Corporate America (Paperback)
I regret that this story is written "with Jack E. White" and not told by Roberts herself. The value of this book is primarily as a personal memoir. As told by White, it is a rather superficial, though intimate, personal outline of Roberts' life--the difficult time she had growing up, her ill-fated marriage, her strength and ambition in the face of adversity. I came away from the book admiring Roberts for her courage and determination, and appalled at Texaco's corporate culture, its hierarchy and unforgiveable prejudice. Were it not for anti-discrimination law, Texaco's sins would have remained hidden and unrectified. Until further notice, I'll certainly be buying my gasoline anywhere else!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Page Turner, August 28, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Roberts Vs. Texaco:: A True Story Of Race And Corporate America (Paperback)
Unfortunately, I didn't learn more from this book. Being an African-American female engineer, I am testimonial to perceptions of upper management in big corporation. Sadly, If the tapes had not materialized, Roberts' case would still be in court. I totally admire her courage and persistance.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
Ive never been afraid to compete with white people. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
master trust department, senior veep, senior financial analyst, black jelly beans, white coworkers, name plaintiffs, trading room, lab school, black employees, class certification
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Walnut Hills, Andrea Christensen, Bob Ulrich, Dave Keough, Miss Robinson, Allen Krowe, Chase Manhattan, Miss Cahill, Charles Mann, Jack Butler, John Ambler, Mike Hausfeld, Jerry Leaphart, Judge Brieant, Magistrate Fox, Dan Berger, Larry Barnes, African American, Bob Gordan, First National, Wall Street, Milt Schubin, Rich Lundwall, Black Panthers
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