African American historian Nell Irvin Painter (Edwards Professor of American History, Emerita, at Princeton University) contributes to the considerable body of analysis and opinion on race in this new bold study, The History of 
White People. Acknowledging contemporary scientific views that reject the idea of separate human "races," Painter builds on that view, by tracing the concept of race along a broad timeline, from its political and religious underpinnings of Western civilization established in Greek and Roman societies, to the elevation of "whiteness" and connection to the ideal of "beauty" in 18th century Germanic society, through its role in the formulation of early American values and social hierarchy, and the impact of the idea of race on 20th century U.S. government policies. Most casual readers will be surprised by some of the assumptions about race Painter debunks, such as the idea of one white race instead of "white races," an factor which Painter explains has been a point of discrimination between Northern Protestant Europeans and Southern "ethnicities, such as Italians, Polish and other Slavic peoples. Painter concludes by pointing to the persistent irrationality of attempting to affix the idea that "...race must be innate and permanent." Skin color, she notes, is obviously mutable, whether the change takes place over centuries or the sexual encounter between two persons of different colors. What has remained unchanging, Painter says, is the correlation of blackness with poverty, ". . . driven by an age-old social yearning to characterize the poor as permanently other and inherently inferior."
The History of White People | W.W. Norton & Co. | 978-0-393-049343-3 | $27.95
Recently I had an opportunity to speak at a Youth Teen Summit program sponsored by Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan New Jersey. This summit occurred not long after several black youth had been executed on the streets of Newark.
Bill Cosby and Alvin F. Poussaint have a powerful message for families and communities as they lay out their visions for strengthening America, or for that matter the world. They address the crises of people who are stuck because of feelings of low self-esteem, abandonment, anger, fearfulness, sadness, and feelings of being used, undefended and unprotected. These feelings often impede their ability to move forward. The authors aim to help empower people make the daunting transition from victims to victors. Come On, People! is always engaging, and loaded with heart-piercing stories of the problems facing many communities.
When The Emperor of Ocean Park was published, Time Out declared: “Carter does for members of the contemporary black upper class what Henry James did for Washington Square society, taking us into their drawing rooms and laying their motives bare.” Now, with the same powers of observation, and the same richness of plot and character, Stephen L. Carter returns to the New England university town of Elm Harbor, where a murder begins to crack the veneer that has hidden the racial complications of the town’s past, the secrets of a prominent family, and the most hidden bastions of African-American political influence.
From the best-selling author of The Dew Breaker, a major work of nonfiction: a powerfully moving family story that centers around the men closest to her heart—her father, Mira, and his older brother, Joseph.
