Product Description

In 1955 the killers of Emmett Till, a black Mississippi youth, were acquitted because they were white. Forty years later, despite the strong DNA evidence against him, accused murderer O. J. Simpson went free after his attorney portrayed him as a victim of racism. The age of white supremacy has given way to an age of white guilt—and neither has been good for African Americans.

Through articulate analysis and engrossing recollections, acclaimed race relations scholar Shelby Steele sounds a powerful call for a new culture of personal responsibility.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #312872 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-01
• Released on: 2007-05-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Speaking the language of moralism, individual freedom and responsibility, contrarian cultural critic Steele builds on ideas he earlier articulated in his National Book Critics Circle Award–winner The Content of Our Character (1990). Today's problem, Steele forcefully argues, is not black oppression, but white guilt, a loose term that encompasses both an attempt by whites to regain the moral authority they lost after the Civil Rights Movement, and black contempt toward "Uncle Tom" complicity with white hegemony, resulting in a shirking of personal accountability. Steele makes a passionate case against the "Faustian bargain" he perceives on the left: "we'll throw you a bone like affirmative action if you'll just let us reduce you to your race so we can take moral authority for 'helping' you." But progressive readers will object to his assertion that systemic racism is a thing of the past—and to his praise of the Bush administration's philosophy on poverty, education and race. Though Steele takes a hard, critical look at affirmative action, self-serving white liberals and self-victimizing black leaders, he stops short of offering real-world solutions. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Steele asserts that the primary focus of the civil-rights era was a legitimate quest to remove racial barriers. In the shift to the black-power era, Steele sees a paradigm shift, away from racial uplift and agency, where blacks assume responsibility for themselves, to a "race is destiny" mode. As the counterculture merged with the civil-rights movement, America was exposed for its racial hypocrisy and, consequently, lost its moral authority. Here, "white guilt" became the moral framework for America. Steele argues that liberal whites embraced guilt for two reasons: to avoid being seen as racists and to embrace a vantage point where they could mete out benefits to disadvantaged blacks through programs such as affirmative action. Steele believes blacks made a deal with the devil by exchanging responsibility and control over their destiny for handouts. He sees a deficiency in black middle-class educational achievement, further raising questions about claims of lack of equal opportunity. Despite these omissions, the cultural analysis of America's loss of moral authority for its exposed racism has resonance today. Vernon Ford
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
" Shelby Steele is America's clearest thinker about America's most difficult problem." (George F. Will )

"A hard, critical look at affirmative action, self-serving white liberals and self-victimizing black leaders." (Publishers Weekly )

"As delightful a read as one can find on a book devoted to America's historically most contentious topic." (New York Post )

"Piercing and personal... WHITE GUILT is a brilliant little essay, deserving of a large and appreciative audience." (Washington Times )

"Powerful, lucid and elegant...On questions of race in America--white guilt, black opportunism--[Steele] is our 21st century Socrates." (Charles Johnson, author of MIDDLE PASSAGE, National Book Award winner )

"Prophet or polemicist, Steele is a graceful and often compelling literary stylist... [and] deserves a wide readership." (Cleveland Plain Dealer )

"There is no writer who deserves black America's allegiance more than Shelby Steele... Steele's writing is a marvel." (John McWhorter, National Review )

"Thought provoking." (Library Journal )

Customer Reviews

Racism old and new.
This book attracted my interest because I've experienced first hand some of the "white guilt" motivated attempts to fix racial inequality.

I attended a middle school during the 1970's right at the start of forced bussing to acheive racial desegregation. Some brilliant social engineers thought that if they bussed black children many miles from home whether they wanted to be bussed or not, dumped them at schools in white neighborhoods, and then eliminated grades and went lax on discipline, then that would solve some problem of inequality between black and white students.

Well, what it accomplished for me was a shock when I arrived at high-school and discovered that not only were letter grades the norm (I hadn't seen them for three years) but they accumulated into this dreadful number called a "GPA" which had a profound impact on this concept known as your "future"! In other words, baby sitting was over and now I actually had to work or face the consequences!

But enough about me. I enjoyed this book and gave my rating for the following reasons:

1. It's short and to the point. The author tells us what we need to know and skillfully encapsulates pivotal events that occured during a short period of time and which lead us into the reality we face today. I love books like that.

2. The author establishes his credibility by weaving a narrative of his life with the development of his thesis. This isn't a book that was written by a person who just read a lot of books in order to write a book.

3. Accessable writing style. It's like the author is sitting across the table having coffee with you and telling you a story. Shelby Steele comes across as a man of unusual wisdom. It would be great to see him in person some day.

4. This book tells a truth that is in line with my personal life experience. Racism has never gone away. Somewhere back in the 1960's it morphed from one form to another. From "old school" racism that consisted of segregating blacks and making them responsible for themselves while denying them access to jobs, loans, etc. to "white guilt" motivated racism which consists of rigging outcomes to be equal by lowering standards for blacks. This is all just fine with guilty white liberals as long as they can claim moral authority in return for providing the equal result for the blacks they've lowered standards for.

Anyway, this is a short and well written book that'll perhaps make you think of things in a way you never have before. Five stars!

Go out and buy it right Away.
I read this book after reading his article in the Wall Street Journal. I enjoyed his idea of America fighting a minimilistic war so that we were not perceived as tyrannical or racist. This definately explains why we have not just "wiped out" the terrorist.

I felt that I had to read the book since I am from the Civil Rights Capitol of the country. Many of these issues are pertinent throughout the country and need to be studied. His issues are hard-hitting and uncomforting at times.

Dr. Steele explains that Americans do not take African Americans at face value, but as a means to an end. He says this because Liberals have used programs like affirmative action and welfare as a way to help blacks and look noble while doing it. Dr. Steele feels that these programs were started so the Whites did not look racist and tolerant of White Supremacy; however, under the surface he feels that the Black man is never able to advance after the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He explains that many Great Society programs were created because Whites felt guilty for the wrongdoing of Blacks. He states the programs were a way to help Whites deal with their moral guilt. Dr. Steele does an excellent job stating the reasons that have caused racial segregation even in today's time. The book does not really offer ways to improve what is happening in America, yet it does bring the issues to the surface. He also throws in the term "New Man" that does an excellent job of explaining the ways of Liberal Democrats.

I got chills several times because someone other than Bill Cosby stated the obvious. This is not a book to better one race over the other, but a way to make America the great country that it is supposed to be. There need to be more Americans like Dr. Steele. If you do not want to read the whole book, then just read the last chapter because it is amazing and the best chapter of the book. This book has to be read because the content is so powerful.

White Guilt: Today, Tomorrow, and Forever.
Shelby Steele, in his new book, White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era, expounds upon the mindset of both groups while exploring our nation's obsession with race. He outlines the interplay between white guilt and black power along with the pernicious effects this dynamic has upon both populations. The author grew up in a time when discrimination was not a shadowy thing. He witnessed it firsthand at baseball practice, and in his father's having to deal with the customs of the southern towns they'd visit.

Throughout the text, Steele combines remembrance with observation as a means to elucidate interracial relations. He defines white guilt as being a complete vacuum of moral authority wherein a stigma is cast upon an entire group of people regardless of what they do or say. In the 1960s, it flourished in whites due to the very real historical wrongs of segregation and slavery. By the end of that decade, due to the growing passivity of whites, the black leadership no longer echoed Dr. King. They became radicalized, and there was no shortage of white politicians, intellectuals, and glitterati (recall Leonard Bernstein) ready to sprawl before their collective feet and regain their moral goodness. For many Caucasians, irrational hate for your own race and your ancestors has now become a mechanism for self-esteem and purity.

When aggression meets submission the result is slaughter, and that's exactly what has happened to the pride of white America over the course of the last four decades. Rage has become the preferred weapon for obtaining concessions from white politicians, and shame prevents rational minds from protesting these tactics. Steele compares the state of many whites to that of Kafka's main character in The Trial, who is guilty of a crime solely because he has been accused. Black activists insisted that acquiring skills and education alone are not acceptable solutions; our government must actively raise them up. This demand is a reason why so many ashen faced elites embrace "diversity" and affirmative action. It allows them to acquire power while amassing feelings of personal superiority.

The government internalized the stigma and dishonor of the majority population, and flooded black neighborhoods with lakes of redemptive spending. That the programs and grants issued were ineffective, or even made things worse, was largely irrelevant as the actions were designed to restore feelings of righteousness in politicians and their appointees.

In the opinion of this reviewer, what keeps racial tensions high in America are intra-race conflicts as opposed to the interracial ones. Most likely, if one group of Caucasians discontinued the practice of systematically defaming all other Caucasians then the strains among us would diminish. The alchemizing of racism from discussions concerning taxation and personal choice does little more than poison our air. When blacks are free from the conspiracy theories and psychologizing of a power obsessed white elite, we will all get along much better.

Ultimately, the best practice for individuals is to treat others as your equals. Modifying your speech and pretending strangers are sensitive to your every syllable is just absurd. The solution to racial problems is not to kow-tow to certain groups and apologize for crimes you never personally committed; instead, we should simply treat other people with respect no matter where they lie on the diversity flowchart. Skin color has nothing to do with personality or worth. Just as one can be certain that segregation and slavery occurred, one can also be certain that the Lester Maddoxes, Orval Faubuses, and Theodore Bilbos are long dead and will never rise again. It is now an excellent time to bury white guilt along with them.