The Coming Race War in America: A Wake-Up Call

by Carl T. Rowan

Overview

Writing with force and anger, syndicated columinst Carl Rowman blows the whistle on America's increasing racial hatreds and economic jealousies, cataloging the warning signs of the coming race war: corporate downsizing and the rise of the "angry white male, " the growth of armed right-wing militias, the waron w elfare and affirmative action, the swelling black prison population, the growing popularity of Louis Farrakhan, and the shocking racial polarization revealed by the O.J. Simpson trial.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316759809
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	10/29/1996
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	537,886
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

Editorial Reviews

Despite the incendiary title, this book seems mainly a recap of syndicated columnist Rowan's opinions on recent political controversies regarding race, from affirmative action to the rise of Colin Powell to the O.J. Simpson trial. It's hard to tell how much Rowan believes his title: while he doesn't consider race war unavoidable, he says he's not optimistic. Then again, the indices of societal decline Rowan citesless religious observance, economic malaise, divisive arguments over affirmative actionhave provoked other Cassandras but few who predict racial violence. His views are liberal but not radical: critical of Republican administrations but also harsh toward Louis Farrakhan and other hatemongers. He sometimes seems to be settling scores, as when he calls Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen an "enemy of black people" for making a defensible argument that "it's time to limit" affirmative action. Rowan inflates his first-person narrative by quoting his own columns frequently, as if suggesting that he is at the center of these debates. He does perform a service in emphasizing the need to take right-wing militias seriously; his other recommendations include intensified gun control, greater monitoring of the police, intervention in the lives of the underclass, a revival of public works for the poor and alternatives to prison. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The Long Island Railroad shootings by Colin Ferguson, the rise of terrorist white militias, and the clamor to eliminate affirmative action and welfare "as we know it" are the opening salvos in the coming race war, according to Rowan. A nationally syndicated columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, Rowan believes that these clashes will take place in a society where organized religion and marriage are no longer important, where economic injustice is the order of the day, and where racism has eliminated the sense of a community of shared values. Rowan shines in his discussion of affirmative action, crime, and poverty. But he occasionally descends into diatribe and relies too heavily on his own newspaper columns. There won't be any surprises here for those who have read Rowan before. But for those who are unfamiliar with his views, this book may indeed provide a "wake-up call."-Nora Harris, Corte Madera Regional Branch Lib., Cal.

Library Journal