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Blacks and Jews: Alliances and Arguments
From the editor of Debating P.C. and one of our foremost political thinkers today comes this impressive new anthology whose introduction was featured in The New Yorker. Here are essays on the long, ambivalent, historically complex, and often volatile relationship between American Jews and African Americans. Featuring essays from leading names in the African American and Jewish communities, Blacks And Jews includes historical perspective provided by articles published in the 1960s and early '70s by such well-known writers as James Baldwin, Cynthia Ozick, and Norman Podhoretz. Then the discussion is brought to the present with new essays from some of the top minds of today — Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Cornell West, bell hooks, Shelby Steele, and Julius Lester. Berman's own thoughts round out this incisive new work that attempts to get to the heart of this controversial, important, and ongoing debate.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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40 people want to read
About the author
Paul Berman
84 books62 followersPaul Lawrence Berman is an American author and journalist who writes on politics and literature. His articles have been published in The New Republic, The New York Times Book Review and Slate, and he is the author of several books, including A Tale of Two Utopias and Terror and Liberalism.
Berman received his undergraduate education from Columbia University, from which he graduated in 1971 with a BA and MA in American history. He has reported on Nicaragua's civil wars, Mexico's elections, and the Czech Republic's Velvet Revolution. Currently he is a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute, a professor of journalism and distinguished writer in residence at New York University, and a member of the editorial board of Dissent. Berman's influence has seen him described as a 'Philosopher King' of the liberal hawks."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Berman
"Paul Berman is a writer on politics and literature whose articles and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, the New Republic (where he is a contributing editor), the New Yorker, Slate, the Village Voice, Dissent, and various other American, European and Latin American journals. He has reported at length from Europe and Latin America. He has written or edited eight books, including, most recently, Power and the Idealists: Or, the Passion of Joschka Fischer and Its Aftermath, with a new preface by Richard Holbrooke for the 2007 paperback edition; Carl Sandburg: Selected Poems, edited with an introduction, published in 2006 by the American Poets Project of the Library of America; and Terror and Liberalism, a New York Times best-seller in 2003. His writings have been translated into fifteen languages. Berman received a B.A. and M.A. in American History from Columbia University and has been awarded a MacArthur, a Guggenheim, the Bosch Berlin Prize, a fellowship at the New York Public Library’s Center for Writers & Scholars, and other honors.
Berman received his undergraduate education from Columbia University, from which he graduated in 1971 with a BA and MA in American history. He has reported on Nicaragua's civil wars, Mexico's elections, and the Czech Republic's Velvet Revolution. Currently he is a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute, a professor of journalism and distinguished writer in residence at New York University, and a member of the editorial board of Dissent. Berman's influence has seen him described as a 'Philosopher King' of the liberal hawks."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Berman
"Paul Berman is a writer on politics and literature whose articles and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, the New Republic (where he is a contributing editor), the New Yorker, Slate, the Village Voice, Dissent, and various other American, European and Latin American journals. He has reported at length from Europe and Latin America. He has written or edited eight books, including, most recently, Power and the Idealists: Or, the Passion of Joschka Fischer and Its Aftermath, with a new preface by Richard Holbrooke for the 2007 paperback edition; Carl Sandburg: Selected Poems, edited with an introduction, published in 2006 by the American Poets Project of the Library of America; and Terror and Liberalism, a New York Times best-seller in 2003. His writings have been translated into fifteen languages. Berman received a B.A. and M.A. in American History from Columbia University and has been awarded a MacArthur, a Guggenheim, the Bosch Berlin Prize, a fellowship at the New York Public Library’s Center for Writers & Scholars, and other honors.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 25, 2023
I read this book here and there, between reading novels. A collection of thought-provoking essays, it lends itself to reading one or two at a sitting and then reflecting on the points made.
The essays were originally written between 1963 and 1994. One thing that hit me several times was how little some things change—sadly. Reading about famous Black activists’ comments in the 1970s about Jewish people cannot help but evoke thoughts of Kanye West’s comments in the 2020s. Learning that critical race theory was being discussed in the early 1990s—but among the Black community rather than the far Right—was an interesting discovery.
I gained a lot of important perspective from this book. Being neither Black nor a Jew, but trying hard to be an ally to any underserved group, i found it educational to read essays from authors and activists belonging to one group or the other. I fear that the title of the book might turn people away—and I noticed that Goodreads members who rated the book haven’t reviewed it, perhaps afraid of saying something offensive. I’d have loved to read this as part of a class that involved discussion, to dig deeper into the subjects addressed and to talk about how things have changed or not since the essays were first written.
The essays were originally written between 1963 and 1994. One thing that hit me several times was how little some things change—sadly. Reading about famous Black activists’ comments in the 1970s about Jewish people cannot help but evoke thoughts of Kanye West’s comments in the 2020s. Learning that critical race theory was being discussed in the early 1990s—but among the Black community rather than the far Right—was an interesting discovery.
I gained a lot of important perspective from this book. Being neither Black nor a Jew, but trying hard to be an ally to any underserved group, i found it educational to read essays from authors and activists belonging to one group or the other. I fear that the title of the book might turn people away—and I noticed that Goodreads members who rated the book haven’t reviewed it, perhaps afraid of saying something offensive. I’d have loved to read this as part of a class that involved discussion, to dig deeper into the subjects addressed and to talk about how things have changed or not since the essays were first written.
June 22, 2025
An outstanding anthology of commentary. The material in several of the component pieces does much to illustrate how the trajectory of forces within the progressive movement as far as the early 1990s would impact the present day. Insightful, helpful, and prescient.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews