The Cornel West Reader Author:Cornel West Cornel West has for the last decade been one of the nation's premiere public intellectuals and one of the great prophetic voices of our era. Whether writing a scholarly book or an article for Newsweek, speaking of Emerson, Chekhov or Martin Luther King, Jr., West radiates a passion and insight steeped in the rich traditions from which he dra... more »ws-the black church, existentialist thought, marxist theory and jazz. This monumental collection traces the arc of West's thought from explorations of "Prophetic Pragmatism" to his philosophizing on race, popular culture and radical politics.
The Cornel West Reader explores the development of West's singular career as teacher, public intellectual and activist. It features the extraordinary range of his voice, from an early foray into autobiographical fiction to scholarly work on philosophical subjects close to his heart. Candid interviews with people such as bell hooks and Bill Moyers reveal West's views on a range of timely subjects including the meaning and value of intellectual work, black-brown relations and black sexuality.
Cornel West's writing ultimately confronts our existential quest for meaning and our political struggle for freedom. In his essays, articles, books and interviews, West emerges as America's social conscience, urging attention to complicated issues of racial and economic justice, sexuality and gender, history and politics. The Cornel West Reader represents the best work of an always compelling, often controversial and absolutely essential philosopher of the American experience, modernity and the human condition.
Chapters include:
Introduction : To be human, modern and American
I. Autobiographical prelude. The making of an American radical democrat of African descent
II. Modernity and its discontents. The ignoble paradox of modernity
III. American pragmatism. Why pragmatism?
IV. Progressive Marxist theory. The indispensability yet insufficiency of Marxist theory
V. Radical democratic politics. The role of law in progressive politics
VI. Prophetic Christian thought. The crisis in contemporary American religion
VII. The arts. Critical reflections on art
VIII. Race and difference. On affirmative action
IX. Postscript. Chekhov, Coltrane and democracy« less