White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era (P.S.)

White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise...

Category: (Book)

26 new, starting at $4.87

19 used, starting at $4.01

Buy Now

Editorial Reviews

In 1955 the killers of Emmett Till, a black Mississippi youth, were acquitted because they were white. Forty years later, despite the strong DNA evidence against him, accused murderer O. J. Simpson went free after his attorney portrayed him as a victim of racism. The age of white supremacy has given way to an age of white guilt—and neither has been good for African Americans.

Through articulate analysis and engrossing recollections, acclaimed race relations scholar Shelby Steele sounds a powerful call for a new culture of personal responsibility.

Customer Reviews

High hopes...disappointed

Reviewed by A. W. Holtzapple, 2009-11-19

I bought this book with high expectations. The subject matter seemed interesting, the fact that it was written by an African-American intrigued me, and I heard some good things about this book. While Steele does have some good points and information to share, the book itself was extremely boring. That sounds childish I know, but it simply was not written for the purpose of keeping the reader's attention. I do have some gratitude to display however, reading Mr. Steele's book did a wonderful job of putting me to sleep on some restless nights. My advice - find another book about this interesting phenomenon.

white guilt review

Reviewed by JZ, 2009-06-02

White Guilt: How blacks and whites together destroyed the promise of the civil rights era by Shelby Steele is a book that discusses the evolution of racism in the United States. Steele an African American writer and researcher discuss touches upon one of the most controversial topics of American history, and he does it with great elegance. Steele combines personal stories and history to supplement his arguments throughout the book. If you're interested in the discussion of race, and the government, then this book is perfect for you. Early in the book Steele coins a term "white guilt", which he uses to explain the reason behind the freedom given to African Americans. "White Guilt", he claims is what white people feel, when dealing with Africans Americans; white people will act a certain way to African Americans, just so they won't seem racist. Steele then continues to write about "global racism" and "systematic racism". He also touches upon the issue of responsibility given to African Americans after the civil war era. Steele says that with programs like affirmative action, African Americans and other minorities are only set up to under achieve, and never given full responsibility to reach their full advantage; he even goes far enough to say that in a way it's a new type of slavery, that African Americans have put themselves into. White Guilt is a book that will allow you to take a whole new look at the issue of racism, and see how the issue has transformed since the civil rights era.

An Extended Essay on an (Un)Intended Consequence

Reviewed by Kevin Currie-Knight, 2009-04-18

Reading this book was, to me, like exposing and making public a secret that people often keep to themselves. As one who teaches in a 98% black, suburban, and undeachieving school, I read this book with an intense interest. Everyday, I see the consequences (both in black students who don't feel any sense of responsibility and white teachers who are uncomfortable with holding students to standards) the effects of what Steele writes about and points out as "white guilt."

Steele's book is a personal recounting of a very tenuous period in the civil rights movement. What was once dictated by the vision provided by those like King, Washington and Dubois of a battle to be overcome by responsibility and hard work became a more radicalized battle to rebel against anything that could be sardonically called "white." What was once a battle against the very conscious and overt racism of the 1950's became a rage against the unconscious and covert racism that was inextricable in the "white man." Anything and everything that was not explicitly pro-black could be labeled as anti-black: especially the now outdated notion that blacks could be, like anyone else, responsible for themselves.

Steele's book is long on memoir and short on sociological data, though, and this will doubtless open him up to charges of caricaturizing, spinning or making things up. I, for one, will not suggest any of these. While Steele does not analyze speeches by "black leaders" or give statistics on the changing behavior of the 1960's civil rights movement from a tempered to a radical approach, he does demonstrate that the phenomenon of white guilt is alive and well today. Whites will often quietly allow black people a "free pass" by way of standard-lowering in return for not having to questioned as a racist in denial. (And as a white man, I can attest that Steele is right about the utter impossibility of defending oneself charges that one is unconsciously a racist. Once one's motive is said to be unconscious, there is little that can be said in self-defense.)

Thus, I read this book in order to understand the saddening trend I witness with my own eyes as a schoolteacher. Why is it that the school in which I teach, despite having a decent mean income, is underperforming in all areas? And further: why is it that all of the teachers and administrators seem to speak so nervously and apolagetically on this fact? Why is it that we are so hesitant to suggest that black students and their parents must take accountability for their own fate, and that Bill Cosby's speeches - that would have been uncontroversial if aimed towards any other "ethnic group" - did not spring from 'Uncle tom" motives?

If you want interesting postulates in answer of these questions - or are afraid to ask them in public - than Steele's "White Guilt" is an very good place to start. His story is insightful and perceptive.

A must read by any thinking person

Reviewed by Richard Kalayjian, 2009-01-15

After reading this brilliant and poignant book by Shelby Steele, I bought 12 to send to friends and family. He absolutely persuades and chronicles the huge guilt trip most white Americans are on, witness the manipulation and election of Barack Obama, which Mr. Steele shares the same up-bringing and whom he has written. Along with Thomas Sowell, he and Shelby Steele represent the clearest thinkers and writers in America today. Oh, did I mention they were black? These fine men are the only authors at the vanguard that can say what needs to be heard by Americans over the alleged "race issue", a must read! Buy 12 of them for your friends and get over your guilt trip.

Missing facts

Reviewed by Julius A. Young, 2008-09-15

Shelby Steele's omissions of facts and critical thought are atrocious. These are a few issues that Steele fails to mention in his book. Withholding the truth is the same as lying.

1) Eisenhower had a lengthy affair with Ann Sommersby
2) The times of Eisenhower wouldn't have allowed the equivalent of $60 million dollars spent on what a president does behind closed doors. Especially since the country was nowhere near as partisan as it is today.
3) He mentioned the L.A. riots but doesn't mention the impact of the unjust verdict on the event.
4) Steele mentions global racism but doesn't mention America's impact on Latin America and Africa.
5) Steele doesn't know what racial experience every black has on a college campus. A friend of mine at U. of Maryland has the first black college president and received numerous death threats which were covered on national media.
6) Steele's "basketball to books" analogy doesn't point out that the parameters of basketball are the same for all players whereas educational achievement has very subjective limits.
7) Mark Fuhrman lied about his use of a racial slur in court. The slur was about the race of the primary suspect, OJ Simpson. Fuhrman was the lead investigator on the case. Could an investigator, who used racial slurs then lied about them, taint evidence? That possibility was brought into play.
8) Johnnie Cochran's job as a defense attorney is to get his client found innocent. Period!
9) According to the Labor Dept., WHITE women are the largest beneficiaries of affirmative action programs.
10) A person having to do an act, such as Steele quitting his job as a bus driver, to show their blackness shows more of a person's inner identity crisis. A true black person is black no matter what they do and need no validation of that fact.
11) Blacks have been at the bottom of most social indicators before and after the "Great Society" was even a concept. Hence, a constant underclass
12) Steele states, "Clarence Thomas has more moral authority on racial issues than Maureen Dowd." He gives no reason why he feels that way; hence, he must feel that way only because Thomas is black. Looking at Thomas' voting record, his moral authority is up for serious question.
13) Dowd's opinion is shared by most blacks and Thomas' qualifications were in question during his whole confirmation in the Senate.
14) Whites let blacks participate such as Jackie Robinson, the Tuskegee Airman, and Charles Drew among others not out of guilt but because those blacks were supremely talented to their white counterparts.
15) It is almost impossible to have individual wealth for the masses without fighting for social justice first.
16) Most black leaders have been asking for equal protection under the law and equal pay for equal work, not a hand outs from the government like Bear Sterns, Lehman Bros. Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac do.
17) Dick Cheney keeps his job when his chief of staff was guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice. Steele doesn't bring that up with his comparison to Bill Clinton.
18) You can only measure reform by results. Steele doesn't bring up other ways that reform can be measured either.
19) Steele doesn't mention on one page the plight of black women in our society.
20) If you feel guilty, you did something wrong.

Not saying that every white person feels guilty but Steele insinuates that feeling.