What's Wrong with Obamamania?: Black America, Black Leadership, and the Death of Political Imagination

by Ricky L. Jones

Overview

Barack Obama's sudden arrival on the national scene has created a wave of excitement in American politics, a phenomenon that has been dubbed "Obamamania." In What's Wrong with Obamamania?, Ricky L. Jones places Obama's run for the presidency in the context of deep and often disturbing shifts in black leadership since the 1960s. From Charles Hamilton Houston to Thurgood Marshall to Jesse Jackson, from prosperity preachers to megachurches, from W. E. B. Du Bois's Talented Tenth and civil rights advocates to Black Entertainment Television and hip-hop culture, Jones paints a picture of lowered expectations, cynicism, and nihilism that should give us all pause.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780791477632
Publisher:	State University of New York Press
Publication date:	03/10/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	158
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Ricky L. Jones is Associate Professor of Pan-African Studies at the University of Louisville and the author of Black Haze: Violence, Sacrifice, and Manhood in Black Greek-Letter Fraternities, also published by SUNY Press.

Table of Contents

Foreword
J. Blaine Hudson

Introduction: Jesse Jackson Didn’t Give a Damn!

1. A Series of Unfortunate (and Unsavory) Events: Paving the Way for “Obamamania”

2. Sorry, DuBois Doesn’t Live Here Anymore: The Soulessness of the New Talented Tenth

3. The Witch and the Devil: American Political Philosophy and Black Suffering

4. “Black Hawks” Down: America’s War on Terror and the Rise of Bushism

5. I Don’t Care What Jesus Would Do; I’ve Got to Get Paid: The New Black Preacher

6. Before and Beyond Don Imus: On BET, Hip-Hop Culture, and Their Consequences

7. What’s Wrong with Us?: The Necessary Death of American Romanticism

Appendix
Chronology: Development and Change in Black Leadership Communities from 1619 to the Present
Notes
Index

Editorial Reviews

...a penetrating look at how race politics has evolved.— Booklist, starred review

"...a fascinating and well-researched exploration into black leadership in America ... this book makes a compelling case for black leaders to re-examine, augment and sometimes discard old approaches and methods. Jones ... provides a level of racial analysis and exploration that is almost entirely absent in the mainstream media."— Publishers Weekly

"With a critical eye, Jones examines leadership style in the black community within the context of larger philosophical arguments about culture, education, political agency, and expectations. This examination will be useful as we attempt to put Barack Obama, and specifically leadership in the black community, into focus."— Ronald W. Walters, author of Freedom Is Not Enough: Black Voters, Black Candidates, and American Presidential Politics

"This book is an important contribution to intellectual clarity-a scarce commodity at a time of mania."— Glen Ford, Executive Editor, BlackAgendaReport.com

"Jones revives a tradition of sharp and clear political thinking and courageous moral engagement."— Joy James, author of Transcending the Talented Tenth: Black Leaders and American Intellectuals

From the Publisher

Jones (Black Haze) uses Barack Obama's presidential campaign to launch a fascinating and well-researched exploration into black leadership in America. The author is thoughtful and balanced in his assessment of the changing nature of black leadership—from W.E.B. Du Bois to Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesse Jackson—and in his evaluation of the challenges facing the black community's newest generation of leaders. In dense, academic prose that often encumbers his analysis, Jones contextualizes the Obama campaign as he documents the troubled state of politics in black America, illustrating the enduring effects of slavery and segregation and charting the burgeoning influence of modern megachurches, hip-hop culture and BET. Although Jones raises more questions than he answers, this book makes a compelling case for black leaders to re-examine, augment and sometimes discard old approaches and methods. Jones lucidly enumerates the challenges, choices and limitations Obama will face as he attempts to win the presidency, and provides a level of racial analysis and exploration that is almost entirely absent in the mainstream media. (June)

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Publishers Weekly