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A More Perfect Reunion: Race, Integration, and the Future of America
A provocative case for integration as the single most radical, discomfiting idea in America, yet the only enduring solution to the racism that threatens our democracy Americans have prided ourselves on how far we've come from slavery, lynching, and legal segregation-measuring ourselves by incremental progress instead of by how far we have to go. But fifty years after the last meaningful effort toward civil rights, the US remains overwhelmingly segregated and unjust. Our current solutions-diversity, representation, and desegregation-are not enough. As acclaimed writer Calvin Baker argues in this bracing, necessary book, we first need to envision a society no longer defined by the structures of race in order to create one. The only meaningful remedy is integration: the full self-determination and participation of all African-Americans, and all other oppressed groups, in every facet of national life. This is the deepest threat to the racial order and the real goal of civil rights. At once a profound, masterful reading of US history from the colonial era forward and a trenchant critique of the obstacles in our current political and cultural moment, A More Perfect Reunion is also a call to action. As Baker reminds us, we live in a revolutionary democracy. We are one of the best-positioned generations in history to finish that revolution.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published June 30, 2020
39 people are currently reading
1328 people want to read
About the author
Calvin Baker
12 books61 followersCalvin Baker is the author of the critically-acclaimed novels Naming the New World, Once Two Heroes and Dominion, which was a finalist for the Hurston-Wright Award, a New York Magazine Critics’ Pick and New York Daily News Best Book of the Year. His long-awaited fourth novel, Grace, will be published in July.
Calvin Baker grew up in Chicago and currently lives in New York.
Calvin Baker grew up in Chicago and currently lives in New York.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
June 3, 2021
This book is a thought-provoking! It talks about the history of race and racism in the United States. Presented to us is an overview of the history of the racial state and how all of our "progress" with Civil Rights for African-Americans or the lack thereof. The book further talks about true integration for African-Americans into full civic and social life in the US and acceptance of our customs and ideas instead of assimilation. This is a compelling book with a clear eyed depiction of racism in America. This is truly and intriguing well thought out book.
December 4, 2020
Woof, not good...
Looking at the high reviews this book has received, perhaps this is an eye opening for people who have never thought about such things before. I just feel there are a lot of other books out there who do a better job of it. I am now reading The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King, for example, that speaks to many of the very same issues as A More Perfect Reunion, but is leaps and bounds of a better read!
I agree with most everything in this book. I also disagree with almost everything in this book, but I think most of the problem is terminology.
That is my first, biggest beef with this book, the author doesn't define any of his terms! The book is supposed to be an argument for full integration and the elimination of (the myth of) racism, but there is no concise statement defining what that is, much less how to get there. Many Native Americans would have some strong disagreements about the desirability of integration! Piecing together statements throughout the book integration is said to be: full equality, equal citizenships, civil rights, self-determination, justice, "mix wholly", amalgamate, eradicate oppression, social contract, opportunity, poverty, "the right to life, liberty, and charting your own future but also the right to be respected as you are (p.13)." Without parsing the meaning of everything on that list, at the end of the day it feels like what the author is trying to say is that those old school democratic values the country was founded on is the way to social justice. Agreed, Civics 101, though yet idealistic. The actual focus of this book however, is really more about systemic, implicit, internalized racism.
Unfortunately this book is also poorly written, and Extreeeeemely biased, to the point of major distortions of truth. Some of it is just unintended sloppiness, like p.118 where it says passive liberals are conservatives ("To be conservative in America has always meant to support, be it actively or passively as liberals, the segregationist order that defined the past"). But a lot of it is just misleading. Eg. p.184 presents a problematic quote made by a sports commentator Snyder as though his statement was entirely acceptable to (racist) mainstream America but if you check the reference notes in the back of the book you'll find Snyder was fired for said comments. And then some of it is just Wrong. "One of the main factors [for the segregation of NYC into ethnic neighborhoods] is gentrification (p. 200)"!!! Stop & frisk in NYC predates gentrification, not the result of as stated on p.206. Underneath it all you'll find clumsy sentence structure & tortured attempts at quippiness.
You'll guess this book is biased on the black/white color divide, it's also partial to the Northeast and Verrrry elitist! (I wonder if the author has any idea how ironic it is to write a book about tearing segregation down from such a biased, elitist perspective?) A lot of it just feels like so many white devils. Southern whites are racists, Northern whites are complicit passive racists. (Does anyone remember Leonard Jeffries and the ice/sun people?) With little substance to the book, poor writing, and the elitism, it started sounding a bit whiny. Somewhere along in my reading it became increasingly apparent that there was a lot of projection of the author's own issues with his own internalized racism and his own personal difficulties with the separateness of his inner "true self" from the outer world he is striving to succeed in.
This review is already way too long but this book is in too much need of some correction.
Truths:
- The divide between private self and public self is unbreachable, and foolish to suggest otherwise. An individual will never, can never fully share their inner, private, "authentic" self, nor can one ever fully know the inner self of another. Ever.
- No one can fully understand someone else's perspective.
- Everyone has prejudices. Biases, assumptions, generalizations... By virtue of how the human mind works, it cannot not be so.
- People will always champion self, and what is familiar to your own lived experiences. My land, my people, my town, my religion... will always be better than yours.
- There will always be Us-es and Thems. And there will always be tribalism.
- Generally speaking, people will always use what power they have toward their own (and their tribe's) benefit, before and above others' interests.
- A People will always want to increase their power. The weak try to gain power, the powerful try to gain more.
- Human beings have a near infinite capacity for self-justification. People's ability to justify their own behavior defies rational thought, even in opposition to their own values & interests.
- Human nature is violent. Human history is a history of violence and untold brutality. It's only been a couple hundred years that, of late (with the Industrial Revolution), we started trying to pretend otherwise.
(BTW, the Spanish Inquisition (1478-1834) was contemporaneous with 1444 Portugal launches the Atlantic slave trade, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation 1863, as were the Indian Wars, ending in the 1890s. And don't forget the Holy Crusades immediately before that 1095-1492).
- All of the above is not people being evil, it is people being people.
One of the inherent problems of democracy is that it is, by definition, majority rule. Which in theory is corrected with ideals like liberty, justice and equality for all.
After Trump's efforts at undermining democracy, after the world erupted into protest against racism and police brutality, I am increasingly of the opinion that while there will always be racism, or some other -ism, perhaps the more important thing is shoring up those basic American virtues, equality, justice, liberty for all, etc... That seems to be along the lines of what the author was getting at.
However, it is another truth that American democracy has only ever been capable of succeeding through the usurpation of the Other. Slavery, indigenous lands, military imperial dominance & global capitalism... The question is, in this shrinking world of rising Third World powers and limited resources, is that model of American democracy sustainable? But that is beyond the scope of this book.
An esoteric truth: Change how others see, teach people to see through example, by changing how YOU see. When you are out in the world try to pay attention to WHO YOU DON'T SEE. When you learn to see, and act accordingly, it will help others who see you to see them too.
This one is for the author personally: White gentrification in Harlem is more noticeable, but yet a great many of those townhouses were also bought up by black gentrifiers. When the affluent, elite of African-American society returns to Harlem they are celebrated, but they too contribute to the pressures that displace poorer residents.
Looking at the high reviews this book has received, perhaps this is an eye opening for people who have never thought about such things before. I just feel there are a lot of other books out there who do a better job of it. I am now reading The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King, for example, that speaks to many of the very same issues as A More Perfect Reunion, but is leaps and bounds of a better read!
I agree with most everything in this book. I also disagree with almost everything in this book, but I think most of the problem is terminology.
That is my first, biggest beef with this book, the author doesn't define any of his terms! The book is supposed to be an argument for full integration and the elimination of (the myth of) racism, but there is no concise statement defining what that is, much less how to get there. Many Native Americans would have some strong disagreements about the desirability of integration! Piecing together statements throughout the book integration is said to be: full equality, equal citizenships, civil rights, self-determination, justice, "mix wholly", amalgamate, eradicate oppression, social contract, opportunity, poverty, "the right to life, liberty, and charting your own future but also the right to be respected as you are (p.13)." Without parsing the meaning of everything on that list, at the end of the day it feels like what the author is trying to say is that those old school democratic values the country was founded on is the way to social justice. Agreed, Civics 101, though yet idealistic. The actual focus of this book however, is really more about systemic, implicit, internalized racism.
Unfortunately this book is also poorly written, and Extreeeeemely biased, to the point of major distortions of truth. Some of it is just unintended sloppiness, like p.118 where it says passive liberals are conservatives ("To be conservative in America has always meant to support, be it actively or passively as liberals, the segregationist order that defined the past"). But a lot of it is just misleading. Eg. p.184 presents a problematic quote made by a sports commentator Snyder as though his statement was entirely acceptable to (racist) mainstream America but if you check the reference notes in the back of the book you'll find Snyder was fired for said comments. And then some of it is just Wrong. "One of the main factors [for the segregation of NYC into ethnic neighborhoods] is gentrification (p. 200)"!!! Stop & frisk in NYC predates gentrification, not the result of as stated on p.206. Underneath it all you'll find clumsy sentence structure & tortured attempts at quippiness.
You'll guess this book is biased on the black/white color divide, it's also partial to the Northeast and Verrrry elitist! (I wonder if the author has any idea how ironic it is to write a book about tearing segregation down from such a biased, elitist perspective?) A lot of it just feels like so many white devils. Southern whites are racists, Northern whites are complicit passive racists. (Does anyone remember Leonard Jeffries and the ice/sun people?) With little substance to the book, poor writing, and the elitism, it started sounding a bit whiny. Somewhere along in my reading it became increasingly apparent that there was a lot of projection of the author's own issues with his own internalized racism and his own personal difficulties with the separateness of his inner "true self" from the outer world he is striving to succeed in.
This review is already way too long but this book is in too much need of some correction.
Truths:
- The divide between private self and public self is unbreachable, and foolish to suggest otherwise. An individual will never, can never fully share their inner, private, "authentic" self, nor can one ever fully know the inner self of another. Ever.
- No one can fully understand someone else's perspective.
- Everyone has prejudices. Biases, assumptions, generalizations... By virtue of how the human mind works, it cannot not be so.
- People will always champion self, and what is familiar to your own lived experiences. My land, my people, my town, my religion... will always be better than yours.
- There will always be Us-es and Thems. And there will always be tribalism.
- Generally speaking, people will always use what power they have toward their own (and their tribe's) benefit, before and above others' interests.
- A People will always want to increase their power. The weak try to gain power, the powerful try to gain more.
- Human beings have a near infinite capacity for self-justification. People's ability to justify their own behavior defies rational thought, even in opposition to their own values & interests.
- Human nature is violent. Human history is a history of violence and untold brutality. It's only been a couple hundred years that, of late (with the Industrial Revolution), we started trying to pretend otherwise.
(BTW, the Spanish Inquisition (1478-1834) was contemporaneous with 1444 Portugal launches the Atlantic slave trade, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation 1863, as were the Indian Wars, ending in the 1890s. And don't forget the Holy Crusades immediately before that 1095-1492).
- All of the above is not people being evil, it is people being people.
One of the inherent problems of democracy is that it is, by definition, majority rule. Which in theory is corrected with ideals like liberty, justice and equality for all.
After Trump's efforts at undermining democracy, after the world erupted into protest against racism and police brutality, I am increasingly of the opinion that while there will always be racism, or some other -ism, perhaps the more important thing is shoring up those basic American virtues, equality, justice, liberty for all, etc... That seems to be along the lines of what the author was getting at.
However, it is another truth that American democracy has only ever been capable of succeeding through the usurpation of the Other. Slavery, indigenous lands, military imperial dominance & global capitalism... The question is, in this shrinking world of rising Third World powers and limited resources, is that model of American democracy sustainable? But that is beyond the scope of this book.
An esoteric truth: Change how others see, teach people to see through example, by changing how YOU see. When you are out in the world try to pay attention to WHO YOU DON'T SEE. When you learn to see, and act accordingly, it will help others who see you to see them too.
This one is for the author personally: White gentrification in Harlem is more noticeable, but yet a great many of those townhouses were also bought up by black gentrifiers. When the affluent, elite of African-American society returns to Harlem they are celebrated, but they too contribute to the pressures that displace poorer residents.
July 7, 2020
I found this book very compelling. Baker sees American (lack of) integration as the problem and suggests that it is preventing us from being the democracy we claim to be. The way that slavery as a topic was woven into the US founding is complex. At every moment that integration could have been achieved (or even attempted), the leaders punted. And after the efforts of the 60s, we have enshrined segregation and inequities in our systems so deeply that people who think of themselves as relatively aware find themselves shocked to be learning about how we police, sentence, shelter, educate, and care for the health of Black Americans in ways fundamentally different than we do whites. This is on our watch. Baker is proposing nothing short of finishing the work of the post-Civil War era: that we integrate to save American democracy.
March 10, 2021
The second half of this book is excellent. Don’t give up after the first 1/2.
August 26, 2020
Very timely book and sadly a book that could be referenced all throughout American history. It almost felt like Mr Baker was still righting as news stories have come out. I enjoyed the focus on what is hidden underneath but all too glaringly there when race is concerned. By breaking races roll down into consumable pieces, this book has made it easier to have direct conversations with others on the topic.
July 20, 2020
Well worth anyone’s time to read. Educational, eye opening and compelling. I still wonder, however, how we can change the systemic ills of our country when ours representatives can’t even agree on anything, however fundamental, put in front of them. My takeaway is that we can only depend on ourselves to be the people we all want to be. This book helps.
October 27, 2024
I loved the book. As a white person reading it really opened my mind to things I haven’t thought about. I enjoyed all the topics covered.
September 19, 2020
Let me be clear. I have given this book a five star rating, because I consider it required reading for white Americans. A More Perfect Reunion by Calvin Baker makes a case for integration as the only way to move into and beyond the sin of race. If we continually cling to our idealized version of the American myth, we will never be able to acknowledge how it is based on denying black Americans their humanity. Of course, this means we whites never become fully human either. We are willing to accept this as long as we hold the power. The power to live where we want. The power to choose which schools our children will attend. The power to have health care. The power to incarcerate others. The power to take the lives of others. Indeed, he argues that full integration is the only way through. And he pins liberals on one horn of this dilemma just as he pins conservatives on the other. His question challenges us: “Can a society such as ours ever be fully whole?”
The reading is dense, because the problem (which whites can so casually dismiss) is far more rooted in our individual and national psyche than we can admit to ourselves. The reading is challenging, because it is so painfully difficult to look at our whiteness from Mr. Baker’s perspective. Thank goodness our local library carries this title. As for me, I need to get a copy so that I can spend more time wrestling with what the author is saying and with how I might integrate this perspective into the way I live my life and advocate for change. Yikes!
The reading is dense, because the problem (which whites can so casually dismiss) is far more rooted in our individual and national psyche than we can admit to ourselves. The reading is challenging, because it is so painfully difficult to look at our whiteness from Mr. Baker’s perspective. Thank goodness our local library carries this title. As for me, I need to get a copy so that I can spend more time wrestling with what the author is saying and with how I might integrate this perspective into the way I live my life and advocate for change. Yikes!
June 22, 2021
ARC (Advanced Readers Copy)
Informative. Dissective. Real and ethically on point. Some very good turn of phrases. Really enjoyed the “This is Us” analysis. The pace could be set faster, but since the topic of racism being the backbone of our democracy was written in about 250 pages, maybe the length could be even longer.
This book is a breath, a wisp of expounding the work needed to be done. Individually it’s suggesting...”[Let] go of the old pagan gods of hatred, secret, unearned advantage, and private vanities to submit an equal society, which is what democracy promises but something this human world has never seen because it takes away the comfort of false pride from you as well as from me.” Talk about big changes and being in this together, I agree. I personally have very little vanities and I agree Americans can sacrifice much more of theirs. Stop buying and hoarding so much! Give back rather than take, take, take. Makes me reassess what my false prides are, illusory. What are my illusions? False promises of capitalism diverge us. We are all complicit!
Many great moments in this book. I recommend it as a “to read.” I learned much and also reaffirmed much. Great job Calvin Baker.
Informative. Dissective. Real and ethically on point. Some very good turn of phrases. Really enjoyed the “This is Us” analysis. The pace could be set faster, but since the topic of racism being the backbone of our democracy was written in about 250 pages, maybe the length could be even longer.
This book is a breath, a wisp of expounding the work needed to be done. Individually it’s suggesting...”[Let] go of the old pagan gods of hatred, secret, unearned advantage, and private vanities to submit an equal society, which is what democracy promises but something this human world has never seen because it takes away the comfort of false pride from you as well as from me.” Talk about big changes and being in this together, I agree. I personally have very little vanities and I agree Americans can sacrifice much more of theirs. Stop buying and hoarding so much! Give back rather than take, take, take. Makes me reassess what my false prides are, illusory. What are my illusions? False promises of capitalism diverge us. We are all complicit!
Many great moments in this book. I recommend it as a “to read.” I learned much and also reaffirmed much. Great job Calvin Baker.
July 24, 2021
This book opened my eyes to all the problems that still exist in this country around racism and how far we still need to push if we want to make a difference. We think we've made progress in civil rights yet our systems are still overwhelmingly segregated and unjust. Our current solutions -- diversity, representation, and desegregation -- are not enough. This author talks about how we all have to envision a country with no segregation, and all need to participate for long-term change.
The book's central thesis is that we talk about race in a very performative way, but we get distracted with other essential movements, so we can never move the bar enough or permanently. One of the things he talks about is the way that our built environment is segregated. The problem is trying to move forward with an old system so the question becomes: how do you take apart structures of racism and integrate people? We have all of these spaces that we tell ourselves are integrated, and they're not. Therefore, the real problem and fear (even for the past abolitionists) is tackling: how do we integrate these folks into the rest of a society that already has massive prejudices against them?
To listen to my interview with the author, go to my podcast at:
https://zibbyowens.com/transcript/cal...
The book's central thesis is that we talk about race in a very performative way, but we get distracted with other essential movements, so we can never move the bar enough or permanently. One of the things he talks about is the way that our built environment is segregated. The problem is trying to move forward with an old system so the question becomes: how do you take apart structures of racism and integrate people? We have all of these spaces that we tell ourselves are integrated, and they're not. Therefore, the real problem and fear (even for the past abolitionists) is tackling: how do we integrate these folks into the rest of a society that already has massive prejudices against them?
To listen to my interview with the author, go to my podcast at:
https://zibbyowens.com/transcript/cal...
November 22, 2020
Sometimes your read a book that feels as if it should be great, and likely is, but perhaps suffer from comparison to similar recent reads. In this book, Baker addresses the American lack of integration, tracing its timing from the 1600s in Virginia to modern day. As suggested by the title, Baker proposes the only way for America to move forward is to seek full integration; in some ways, finishing the work of Reconstruction.
Baker's argument, his history, is all compelling. But I found myself finding some of it redundant (I suppose, the history, mostly). Over the past year I have really focused on reading more in this area, including Foner's history of Reconstruction, Blight's Frederick Douglass's biography, both of Isabel Wilkerson's books, Ibram Kendi's book, and so on, that, regretfully, parts felt redundant.
Often I think that when a book has this "flat" feeling, that is more my fault than the book itself. Certainly, the book is a worthy read; and the arguments for integration, particularly in a modern America that is mostly segregated (and mostly blind to that segregation), is also a necessary read.
Baker's argument, his history, is all compelling. But I found myself finding some of it redundant (I suppose, the history, mostly). Over the past year I have really focused on reading more in this area, including Foner's history of Reconstruction, Blight's Frederick Douglass's biography, both of Isabel Wilkerson's books, Ibram Kendi's book, and so on, that, regretfully, parts felt redundant.
Often I think that when a book has this "flat" feeling, that is more my fault than the book itself. Certainly, the book is a worthy read; and the arguments for integration, particularly in a modern America that is mostly segregated (and mostly blind to that segregation), is also a necessary read.
March 3, 2022
“we are not in a new civil war. we are in an old one that was never finished. the anger, fear, and conditioning of the national past are gnawing to reassert themselves in what we imagine to be a more enlightened present, which will never be more enlightened, can never be more enlightened, so long as we continue to re-create the habitat of racism.”
the last part/chapter pushed this book into five star territory for me. a difficult & dense read, but an important one. baker asks his readers to consider what race actually is, and why we continue to prop it up, what we’re afraid of on the other side of it, and most importantly, to consider a world without it. his critiques focus more on the “woke” white folks than the out-and-out racists, leveling at us the reality that our occasional paroxysms of “ritual enactment[s] of pain and catharsis” when we decide to have a Racial Awakening aren’t solving the issue or bringing Black, brown, or indigenous people into the collectivity of our social compact.
read this book.
the last part/chapter pushed this book into five star territory for me. a difficult & dense read, but an important one. baker asks his readers to consider what race actually is, and why we continue to prop it up, what we’re afraid of on the other side of it, and most importantly, to consider a world without it. his critiques focus more on the “woke” white folks than the out-and-out racists, leveling at us the reality that our occasional paroxysms of “ritual enactment[s] of pain and catharsis” when we decide to have a Racial Awakening aren’t solving the issue or bringing Black, brown, or indigenous people into the collectivity of our social compact.
read this book.
January 23, 2021
I entered into Baker's book (and his personal story) after a friend/mentor recommended it to me. I had just explained to him that I was designing a high school course that centers James Baldwin's lessons, and uses contemporary artists and voices to help make Baldwin's lessons new again (though, to be sure, Baldwin's lessons are plenty relevant enough as is).
With this lens and context, Baker's book was exactly what I needed to go deeper in my own journey, and as I continue to honor Baldwin's gifts. Integration, as a word and concept, helps me better understand how words like "diversity," and "equity," and "inclusion," and "multicultural" are used within the independent school setting. That is to say, Baker eviscerates those efforts, and calls for America to actually finish its democratic revolution by including the marginalized and oppressed as part of our democracy.
This book gets my highest recommendation - 5 stars - which puts it in rarefied air. That's James Baldwin's air.
With this lens and context, Baker's book was exactly what I needed to go deeper in my own journey, and as I continue to honor Baldwin's gifts. Integration, as a word and concept, helps me better understand how words like "diversity," and "equity," and "inclusion," and "multicultural" are used within the independent school setting. That is to say, Baker eviscerates those efforts, and calls for America to actually finish its democratic revolution by including the marginalized and oppressed as part of our democracy.
This book gets my highest recommendation - 5 stars - which puts it in rarefied air. That's James Baldwin's air.
September 9, 2020
An extraordinary read full of great and apt quotes for the time and this book is very timely at its release.
Mr. Baker's assertion (well argued and supported in the text) is that only by de-bunking the myth of race through true, full integration of society can we create a just society in the USA. He accurately describes the notion of race as a technological advancement designed to empower institutionalized white supremacy.
Perhaps my favorite quote: "The injury of race... was not one injury - slavery - as we fervently wish to believe... It is a dozen large acts played out on a global scale and an uncountable galaxy of smaller ones - those committed, active as violence, passive as a lie, every day in an American lifetime - multiplied by the number of people who have ever lived in America."
Mr. Baker's assertion (well argued and supported in the text) is that only by de-bunking the myth of race through true, full integration of society can we create a just society in the USA. He accurately describes the notion of race as a technological advancement designed to empower institutionalized white supremacy.
Perhaps my favorite quote: "The injury of race... was not one injury - slavery - as we fervently wish to believe... It is a dozen large acts played out on a global scale and an uncountable galaxy of smaller ones - those committed, active as violence, passive as a lie, every day in an American lifetime - multiplied by the number of people who have ever lived in America."
September 9, 2020
This book is effectively a series of thought-provoking essays about the history of race and racism in the United States. Baker presents an overview of the history of the racial state and how all of our so-called "progress" with Civil Rights for black Americans is just a return to the humane and free society that was finder here nearly 400 years ago. Baker calls for complete integration of black Americans into full civic and social life in the US as the only way to fulfill the Revolutionary ideal. I just wish he provided more specific guidance on how to see that ideal through.
September 16, 2020
One of the best discussions I have read of race in America, the author provides a fascinating account of not only how we got here, but how we might move forward. A timely book and one skeptics and believers alike should read.
July 18, 2020
A compelling book, well worth reading.
July 28, 2020
Clear eyed depiction of racism in America
Read
October 16, 2020I cannot imagine a more compelling collection of history, fact and lost opportunities. Calvin Baker has done a service to the US of today like no other. White friends, please read.
July 2, 2021
I listened to this as an audiobook. This book provided an interesting perspective on race in America and how integration can be better used to promote racial equality.
January 18, 2024
This very interesting immigration and segregation history we don't normally learn! I hear so much talk about other books that teach this but not enough about this one.
July 13, 2022
"There are traumas in the historical past that may be impossible to heal. Wrongs absolute, but formative. The only balm for wrongs in the past is present behavior and the future one creates. Integration is *the* American problem to address if for no other reason than America is the first and oldest democracy, and success or failure here presages the fate of democracy in the world."
Calvin Baker deftly weaves history and modern culture into a compelling and eye-opening analysis with a call to action that has me both cringing at its painful truths and looking for ways to be a more active participant in dismantling systemic racism through integration.
Calvin Baker deftly weaves history and modern culture into a compelling and eye-opening analysis with a call to action that has me both cringing at its painful truths and looking for ways to be a more active participant in dismantling systemic racism through integration.
August 5, 2024
The insights on the Colonial and Revolutionary eras are excellent. The segment on education is terrible. 2.5 is probably more accurate but closer to 3 than 2.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews