Keeping Faith: Philosophy and Race in America / Edition 1

by Cornel West

Overview

In this powerful collection by one of today's leading African American intellectuals, Keeping Faith situates the current position of African Americans, tracing the geneology of the "Afro-American Rebellion" from Martin Luther King to the rise of black revolutionary leftists. In Cornel West's hands issues of race and freedom are inextricably tied to questions of philosophy and, above all, to a belief in the power of the human spirit.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415904865
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/09/1993
Pages:	340
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Cornel West is Professor of Afro-American Studies and Religion at Harvard University. He lectures widely and appears frequently on television, including Conversations with Bill Moyers.

Table of Contents

Preface: The Difficulty of Keeping Faith, 1 The Cultural Politics of Difference, 2 Black Critics and the Pitfalls of Canon Formation, 3 A Note on Race and Architecture, 4 Horace Pippin's Challenge to Art Criticism, 5 The Dilemma of the Black Intellectual, Philosophy and Political Engagement, 6 Theory, Pragmatisms and Politics, 7 Pragmatism and the Sense of the Tragic, 8 The Historicist Turn in Philosophy of Religion, 9 The Limits of Neo-pragmatism, 10 On Georg Lukacs, 11 Fredric Jameson's American Marxism, Law and Culture, 12 Reassessing the Critical Legal Studies Movement, 13 Critical Legal Studies and a Liberal Critic, 14 Charles Taylor and the Critical Legal Studies Movement, 15 The Role of Law in Progressive Politics, Explaining Race, 17 The Paradox of the African American Rebellion.

Editorial Reviews

"Indeed, readers who find Race Matters provocative but thin, a tasty but unfilling appetizer, will find Keeping Faith to be a much more satisfying main course." — Harvard Review
"West brings an acute intelligence, wide reading, and training in philosophy and theology to bear on the irrationalities in all political camps...The left, the black movement and all others would profit by a careful reading of Keeping Faith." — Boston Globe
"Well-informed and provocative, aware both of the power and the dangers of cultural criticism. An important book." — Library Journal
"This book provides uncommon insight into what West calls ‘prophetic criticism'—critical analysis that inspires as well as condemns." — Los Angeles Times

From the Publisher

Readers who enjoyed the illuminating essays in West's bestselling Race Matters will be baffled by this collection of 17 academic essays. West is a formidable intellect, but only tenacious, grounded readers will find useful his analyses of philosphers like Georg Lukacs and Fredric Jameson, or his criticism of the radical movement known as Critical Legal Studies. Those looking for elaboration on the themes developed in Race Matters will find a mixed bag. Essays on ``The New Cultural Politics of Difference'' and ``The Dilemma of the Black Intellectual'' set out the options facing critics like himself, though they lack concrete examples. A final piece, on the conflicting legacies of 1960s black activism, offers valuable historical analysis, but it was written in 1984 and should have been updated with references to present politicians and debates. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

As Henry James moved to Europe to write about America, so Princeton philosopher West ( Race Matters , LJ 3/15/93) finds a frame for his assessment of the state of the ``New World African'' through recent trips to Ethiopia. Influenced by Richard Rorty and Michel Foucault, West develops a ``prophetic criticism'' to explore the existential conditions of race in America. Collecting 17 previously published essays and reviews, West examines the problems of culture, canon, and the black intellectual; the limits of political engagement; the role of the ``critical legal studies movement''; and the nature of race. While the essays are often repetitive and turgid in style, they are well informed and provocative, aware both of the power and the dangers of cultural criticism. An important book.-- T.L. Cooksey, Armstrong State Coll., Savannah, Ga.

Library Journal