Turning Back [Paperback]

Stephen Steinberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 1996

Turning Back is a challenge to conservatives and liberals alike who have fueled the backlash against policies designed to alleviate racial inequality.


"Committed, anti-racist scholarship. . . . A useful contribution to clear thinking about race."


--George M. Fredrickson, The New York Review of Books

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this astringent, accessible study, Queens College sociologist Steinberg (The Ethnic Myth) takes issue with "the scholarship of backlash"?academic works that oppose remedying racial inequality. Gunnar Myrdal's classic An American Dilemma, the author points out, portrayed racism as a moral problem but did not go so far as to challenge "major political and economic institutions." By the 1960s, the paradigm had shifted, but recommendations in national critiques such as the Kerner Report for achieving racial equality were never implemented. Steinberg takes on both Daniel Patrick Moynihan and sociologist William Julius Wilson for legitimizing the retreat from race-based policies, and even argues that left-winger Cornel West's critique of black "nihilism" differs little from conservative views of ghetto culture. The author sees the retreat from affirmative action as "an unmitigated disaster for African Americans" and warns that U.S. "immigration policy amounts to a form of disinvestment in native workers." And, he says, history suggests that the current step back from racial justice may be followed by a populist move forward. A trenchant, closely reasoned critique of the nation's failure to confront its continuing legacy of racism.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Compelling. . . . Turning Back is a book that belongs in the hands of any person who believes in civil rights and human justice. We should read it, meditate on it, and reconsider our present conduct in light of its insights. --Texas Observer

"[Steinberg] argues with angry prose and an impressive grasp of the facts about the long list of betrayals of the black people by scholars and activists who proclaim themselves to be the friends of African-Americans. . . . [Turning Back] is strong medicine." --Robert F. Drinan, The Boston Globe

"A very important, rich and thoughtful book." --Adolph Reed, Jr., The Nation

"One of the most important books on race and society to appear in the last decade." --Michael Eric Dyson, author of I May Not Get There with You --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press (September 30, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807041114
• ISBN-13: 978-0807041116
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.5 x 2.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,217,785 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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