Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #533108 in Books
• Published on: 1997-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 186 pages

Amazon.com Review
Derrick Bell is perhaps best known for the principled stand he took at Harvard in 1990 when he quit his tenured position on the law-school faculty to protest the school's failure to grant tenure to a black woman. Now a visiting professor at New York Law School, Bell is still deeply interested in issues of race relations and has chosen to explore the subject fictionally in Afrolantica Legacies. In a nutshell, the story goes like this: a mysterious land mass suddenly appears in the Atlantic Ocean, a fabulous island on which only black people can survive. American blacks set sail to the island to begin a new life, only to see it sink again before they can reach the shore. On the return trip to America, the passengers draw up a list of principles called the Afrolantica Legacies, defining how they want to reposition themselves in American society.

The stories Bell tells to illustrate his points are narrated by Geneva Crenshaw, a character he has used in earlier fiction. Racism, government conspiracies against blacks, and Jewish-black relations are the subjects here, and heroes of African American history such as Marcus Garvey, Thurgood Marshall, and Nat Turner all make appearances. Depending on which side of the black/white divide you happen to stand, Bell's take on race relations in America will either seem right on the money or very grim indeed.

From Library Journal
With shades of his previous book, Bell (Gospel Choirs, LJ 5/1/96) continues with his odd mixture of parables and political essays. In this sequel, he pairs fictional sidekick Geneva Crenshaw with President Clinton, who was influenced by her to make a speech at an event called "Racial Liberation Day," with a message to white Americans. Putting himself into the book as a character, Bell moves on to explain the legacy of "Afrolantica," a "promised land" for African Americans that sank to the bottom of the ocean. At this point, he borders on the absurd, using too much levity, as when he has contact with a supernatural being who descends to Earth in a parachute. Bell then gets serious as he debates one of his colleagues on black-Jewish relations and offers a critique on black academics. With his unconventional style, he nevertheless delivers powerful commentary on the issues of the day. Recommended for African American collections and those scholars seeking a challenge to their sensibilities.?Ann Burns, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
For this book, Bell changes publishers (from Basic, sold a few months ago by HarperCollins) but returns to the genre that he has used extremely effectively, "legal fiction," and to his favorite character, the supernatural lawyer Geneva Crenshaw. Bell, visiting professor at New York University Law School, connects his latest group of stories to the idea of a new land, Afro-lantica, whose atmosphere is deadly to everyone but blacks. Thus the central conceit is a variation on a theme in black history--repatriation as the final solution to racism in the U.S. With Marcus Garvey looming over the proceedings, Bell delves into various racial issues, and he utilizes landmark civil rights cases and ghostly appearances from popular leaders of the past (e.g., "Nat T." and Thurgood Marshall) to help him argue his positions. Perhaps this book isn't of a piece as is, for instance, Bell's Faces at the Bottom of the Well (1992), but it answers his critics and advances his thoughts on the state of race relations today, unequivocally. Bonnie Smothers

Customer Reviews

FAscinating
What I found most impressive about this book is the way it challenges assumptions and attitudes about Jewish racism and hegemony. Bell is a courageous and brilliant writer, and this is the best novel I have read in several months. And as a feminist and white woman, I found it much more interesting than many other books by white writers who attempt to address these issues. Highly recommended.

Excellent Look at Race Relations
Derrick Bell is the well known former Harvard law professor who left his tenured position at Harvard because of the school's refusal to deal equitably with women of color. He has written a number of books, and those featuring Geneva Crenshaw are among his best. This latest book focuses on racism, and takes a deeper look at Jewish-black relationships, and the property rights in white skin color. While most thinking black Americans wouldn't find much to challenge here, many whites will find this a disturbing book on a number of levels.

The statement made by the fictional president of the USA that "we can no longer afford whiteness as an assumed right of citizenship" is one which should engender serious thinking among whites who want to really understand 21st century America. Even though this book was published in 1998, the issues it raises have not disappeared with the change in the century, increased numbers of "mixed" race children, and increased intermarriage between American blacks and others.

Would I buy this book? Yes. Would I keep it? Yes. This is a worthy read with plenty to think about.

A gem. Bell Is Right on Target
Derrick Bell returns to his "legal fiction", which again proves fascinating. Prof. Bell amplifies the sub rosa elements of race relations in the US, and holds them up to the light. This is a great read for any thinking person. Not to be missed.