Races Books

"CLEAR AND CONCISE. . . . INFORMATIVE AND PROVOCATIVE. . . . Bonds offers a thoroughly researched and expertly documented analysis of how the community development funding process has been hijacked by those who seek to protect their authority and bureaucratic turf at the expense of city residents and their efforts to protect the vitality of their neighborhoods."

Reviewed by:
Rick Hornung, Author of One Nation Under the Gun: Inside the Mohawk Civil War, At the Edge of All Things: In Search of Labrador, and Al Capone

"Addresses one of the most critical political issues of the day; the impact of Black elected officials on the allocation of public services to Black communities. . . . ILLUSTRATES THE IMPORTANCE OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH to flesh out lessons that are learned (and occasionally are hidden) by quantitative research."

Reviewed by:
Gregory D. Squires, Professor of Sociology, Public Policy, and Public Administration, George Washington University

Bible scholars used the Bible to justify separation between blacks and whites, but the Gospel had been twisted and misinterpreted. Race, Religion & Racism: Volume 2 provides a discussion of how the Bible was used to subjugate blacks in America from early to modern times, with liberal attention to passages and quotes throughout. An intriguing history and challenge to the legacy of biblical teachings in America.

This book should be compulsory for anyone who desires to enter the ministry. It is scholarly and at the same time understandable to the layman.
First rate material

I really apreciate this book, Afrocentricity view depicts in this book is a philosophy that can help every african descendant to learn more about his identity, and to improve their perception of the world.

The only problem with Dr. Asante's books is that they end. You kinda wish he would write a new chapter every month and just add it on. His observations and analysis of the African experience the world over is arguably the most poignant today. I bet 100 or 200 years from now his work will still hold up.

Why America Should See More than Black & White By Samuel R. Cacas

Race, Rights & The Asian American Experience By Angelo N. Ancheta, Rutgers University  Press:  1998, 224 pp, Hardcover.

        While taking a civil rights class in law school during the late 1970s, I felt cheated by what I felt was a significant gap in the course and text material which almost exclusively focused on the achievements for and by African Americans.  As a very politically conscious Asian American in college, I knew that while immigrant groups like Asians were a very minuscule minority population-wise in this country, they had still made a significant contribution to the eradication of "Jim Crow" policies and other racial segregation laws.

    And I would often expound on such contributions  during class.  For instance, the Yick Wo v. Hopkins case - in which a  Chinese American laundry owner in San Francisco successfully sued to  overturn a racially discriminatory city ordinance - has been cited in countless legal briefs and court cases involving the Fourteenth Amendment1s Equal Protection clause.  Or U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark which has long been the major legal precedent establishing birthright citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment.  While my civil rights teacher and fellow classmates were warm and respectful to my tendencies, I still felt the contributions of non-Black minority groups deserved to be covered more thoroughly in print. So reading civil rights lawyer Angelo Ancheta's "Race, Rights & The Asian American Experience" was a refreshing affirmation of my daily, righteous meanderings in that civil rights class.         Ancheta pulls no punches in citing his motivation for writing this ground-breaking text on civil rights and race relations.  In the book¹s preface, he relates his racial experiences growing up in San Francisco during the 1960s:  racist landlords that limited the sections of the city where his family could live, discriminatory employment practices which prevented ! his parents from the career they desired, and the endless anti-Asian racial taunts he endured throughout elementary and high school.  And even when such experiences receded as he grew older, Ancheta was still exposed to significant, though subtle, forms of racism such as law school classmates who marveled that Ancheta - a second generation, American-born Filipino American - could not understand Chinese or Japanese.     The book's bifurcated focus - how Asian Americans are affected by civil rights laws and how civil rights laws are affected by Asian Americans - forms the basis for why all Americans should read this book even if they are not of Asian descent.  If anything, they will come away with a more encompassing mind-set on civil rights that accommodates the racial experiences of the fastest-growing minority group in this country. A major polemic addressed throughout the book is the problem that civil rights protections available to Asian Americans are most often contingent upon the rights granted to African Americans.  In effect, says Ancheta, Asian Americans "have been treated primarily as constructive blacks," forced to make "unseemly, curious choices" when they sue for their civil rights, such as asserting that they are white in order to attend the best public schools.     But Ancheta emphasizes that periods where Asian Americans were treated by courts as "honorary whites" were "short-lived and more unusual." And not always beneficial.  The recent exclusion of Asian Americans from affirmative action programs due to their repeatedly being lumped with whites is an example of the latter, according to Ancheta, even where "Asian American still face racial discrimination and remain underrepresented." Such exclusions are built into all civil rights protections and policies which are premised largely premised on the color discrimination premised on the treatment of African Americans.  While such bias may apply to Asian Americans, Ancheta contends, the stigma! of being labeled foreign-born - even if one is American-born - has been one of the primary bases for Asians in this country being the target of hate violence, media-based stereotypes, as well as benefit-entitlement laws like California's Proposition 187 premised on citizenship, among others. Ancheta¹s solutions for such racial inequities which feed on the anti-Asian tendencies in the law and among most Americans is very concrete:  develop new laws or amend old ones that rely on theories that comprehend the complexity of race relations beyond the black-white racial paradigm.     Essentially this means including immigration status in hate crime laws. As well as recognizing that discrimination can be based on ethnicity and being labeled and treated as foreign-born, not just race.  In asserting such remedies where the interracial friction involves African Americans as victimizers, such as the current conflicts occurring between Asian Americans and African Americans in San Francisco's housing projects, Ancheta encourages transracial, innovative solutions such as the Asian Law Caucus suing the city housing authority instead of racially targeting individual tenants.  After all, he posits, "expanding the civil rights agenda to include Asian Americans cannot come at the expense of African Americans."     While presented in tightly written, sometimes analytical prose, this book could probably be well understood to the average lay person not well-versed in the law.  Many of the principles Ancheta expounds on are based on real-life stories that Ancheta and other Asian Americans have lived.  Stories, along with perspectives, often missing in the media1s coverage of important issues such as immigration, affirmative action, and hate violence.  Their absence in headlines as well as history books are complemented by the law¹s insensitivity to immigrant groups such as Asian Americans.  And Ancheta addresses that insensitivity very eloquently.

Ancheta does not pull any punches. This is a serious book and it deals with serious issues. Race, Rights and the Asian American Experience is defined by its strong views and lucidity. Ancheta offers a sketch of the history of discrimination against Asian Americans, this writer suggests though that for a more robust narrative the reader would have to turn to the likes of Ronald Takaki and tackle something in the area of Stranger's From a Different Shore. Ancheta moves to outline what he defines as a legal subordination of Asian Americans. Deftly articulating the insidious impact of nativism on race relations and the production of citizenship. Ancheta leaves no one out as he takes aim at the very Constitution itself outlining that it "can... restrict the scope of anti-discrimination laws." Ancheta argues that all these so called anti-discrimination laws do not consider the inherent racial bias contained therein. Ancheta sees race as a dynamic, social construction as opposed to something intrinsic or natural. Moreover, Ancheta points to the shifts in the demographic landscape as perhaps the single most significant force responsible for problematizing the black-white bifurcation. As a case in point, in Ho v. San Francisco "model minority" is a handicap to those defined as such.

In perhaps the most telling of cases in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923), Ancheta glosses over it but he does not miss the significance of the cases. Ancheta posits that we have come far since the 1790 Nationality Act that allowed only "Free White" aliens to be admitted to U.S. Citizenship yet more work has to be done. Even well the turn of the century, in Ozawa v. United States (1922) and in United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923), Japanese Americans as well as Asian Indians both failed in their push to be classified as white so that they could obtain citizenship. Since only whites could become citizens, there was a race to prove that one was "white." Ancheta writes: "In United States v. Thind, the Supreme Court ruled that Asian Indians were barred from naturalization, even though scientific evidence at the time indicated that Indians belonged to the Caucasian race. The popular conception of Caucasian, the Court noted, clearly excluded Indians: "It is a matter of familiar observation and knowledge that the physical group characteristics of the Hindus renders them readily distinguishable from the various persons in this country commonly recognized as white." The Court also indicated that the racial bar applied to other Asians as well: "There is much in the origin and historic development of the statute to suggest that no Asiatic whatever was included"" (24). Feeling that Ancheta was going to take this further, I was disappointed in that it seems clearer than ever that the rulings were devoid of any real basis in law and fact but rather relied on "familiar observation and knowledge" as if some `common-sense' hegemony ruled over such things as objective science and the law.

It is argued by some critics that Ancheta ignores a wider global perspective. I argue that despite the very international scope of the book, globalization and such issues is not within the thesis or framework of the book. Ancheta should be commended for his groundbreaking piece.

Miguel Llora

"This eye-opening text is essential for educators, policy-makers, and practitioners." --Kimberly Hendry, Teaching and Learning in Diverse Settings, 2(1), 196-200.

"This book demonstrates that the field of moral development itself has now matured to a stage of sophistication and inclusivity." --Robert Franklin, Candler Chronicle, 2004(Summer), 7.

"Excellent...for courses in moral development, human development, and multi-cultural education." --Elizabeth C. Vozzola, Association for Moral Education Forum, 20(2), 19-20.

What did moral psychologists Lawrence Kohlberg and Carol Gilligan each miss? This book goes beyond prior writings on moral development and education by opening up a pluralistic, multicultural approach. It does so by inviting the reader to learn from the social tragedies and moral treasurers of African Americans. This book taught me a lot. It is a must-read for people interested in contemporary moral education, African American values, or new ideas about the psychology of morality.

Fifty years plus after publication, Cox's "Caste, Class and Race" remains the single most important book ever published on American racism. Cox is just a brilliant thinker and writer--both--and in CCR he lucidly lays out a materialist, functionalist interpretation of racial formation that, I think, gets it right on all the fundamentals. This is the analysis of racism that increasingly dominates modern scholarly thought in the U.S.; Cox got it right first--at least a couple of decades ahead of anybody else! And to this day, nobody has done it better.

Note that "Caste, Class and Race" is not the current title. That's because "Race" is actually only exactly that: 'Race,' the third section of the original volume, published on its own. Yes, the first two-thirds of the book is missing here!

That's a very mixed blessing. First the good part, and the rationale for carving out 'Race' as a stand-alone: Cox designed the original three-part schema to take on and discredit the then-reigning 'caste' theory of racism--today a pretty irrelevant task, since Cox was right and all those tenured Ivy League then-prominent academics were wildly wrong. (The basic idea was that the U.S. racial order is largely the same as India's caste system, a ludicrous notion attractive mainly because it allowed the White establishment to look away from the reality of homegrown racist oppression and exploitation.)

But the 'Class' section, also omitted from this edition, is really CCR's foundation. In it Cox lays out his somewhat idiosyncratic "Marxian"--not doctrinaire "Marxist"!--materialist analysis of modern Western historical development, cogently presented in its own right. That framework then forms the basis for the third section's masterly analysis of Western racism, growing out of the inherent dynamics of industrial capitalism and imperialism--in the U.S., out of slavery in particular, of course.

By the way, if, perhaps, you're put off by the idea of a Marxian orientation--do get over it! Approach Cox with an open mind, and you'll soon appreciate that the hallmark of his writing is its wonderful logical and rhetorical sure-footedness, and tough reasonableness. Again and again while reading, especially the 'Race' section, I'd think, "Well, here's a paragraph that just doesn't add up," or, "He's chosen the wrong word this time--he means..." And then I'd read the passage again, sometimes again and again--and then I'd get it. Cox hadn't been wrong, he'd just been thinking three or four steps ahead of me. Once or twice in these moments of recognition I felt my head spin 'round 180%--paradigm shift!

He does, admittedly, get it wrong once or twice, mainly when he tries to predict the future. Cox didn't see a non-violent, Black-led civil rights movement coming, largely because his Marxism told him to expect a working-class coalition of Whites and Blacks, led by Whites, the stronger, more numerous force. Wrong! But there's much more he nails cold.

Which book to purchase, "Race" or CCR? I'd recommend buying the original, CCR, and skipping only the Caste section. (Unless you're interested in what's undoubtedly one of the best DETAILED explorations of the Indian caste system ever published.) Or just splurge and buy both--"Race" has a good intro by journalist Adolph Reed, Jr., and a helpful biographical essay on Cox as well. If you do choose CCR, the best available edition (all are sadly out-of-print/used) is the 1959 Monthly Review hardback, since the 1970 paperback is a bit too compact yet thick for its own good--kind of unwieldy, a bit like trying to read a brick.

But anyway--read it!

Cox's work is somewhat provocative as he seems to ignore the psycho dynamics of racism and stands by the causal factors of racism's matrix is in the economic stucturation of society. Whether one concurs or not, Cox is nothing less than genius. Its tragic that his books are so expensive. Another one of his most insightful works is 'Capitalism and American Leadership'. Both books are excellent reads.

I read the 1st edition of this book many years ago (in the 60s). It well describes the intellectual justifications for racism. It has a wonderful bibliography which allows the reader to find the original material. I have not re-read the book in years, but profoundly recall the author's discussion of how the intellectuals of the time produced literature to justify the US's continue subjagation of non-whites in American and outside--Kipling's "White Man's Burden" being one example. Highly recommended.

This reprint of a classic study of racism is one of the most important on the subject in the last fifty years, and significant for being the source of much later scholarly work. The place of racial pseudo-science in American history, indeed, American scholarship was once alarmingly strong, and the picture since the changes wrought in the sixties onwards tend to make one forget the insidious extent of the racist confusions. The book is quite comprehensive, and covers the issue of racism from the early modern onward, from the time of Las Casas and the Puritans to the time of Nazism, with interesting material on slavery, the treatment of the Indian, Reconstruction and afterward, Social Darwism, race in literature, and much more. As a teacher of English rather than a specialist the tone is precise yet informal, yet highly readable, and as the authors of the Forward to the new edition note, the text was an inspiration to many scholars of the time of the first printing.

I brought this for my son who is a Diego fan and he enjoyed this book a great deal.

This book really helps young children learn to read. My son is 3 yrs. old, and he does a really good job recognizing the pictures that are placed throughout the book. He loves Diego, and I was actually surprised when we began reading the book. I pointed to the different animals like armadillo, and he knew exactly what it was. These books help children learn words through the pictures....I bought a total of four of these books, and they are great!!

Chapter 1. Always bet against the public. Betting at a racetrack is a zero sum game from which the track takes a significant chunk of the wagers before anyone gets paid. Further, the people who know the horses best and can easily fix the race, the owners and trainers, are betting against you. At best, only a minority can ever win. The track requires the majority to lose, therefore avoid the majority play. Only bet when two situations occur simultaneously: 1) you have well considered odds in your favor. 2) The public is betting your choice is a loser. Put the two together, and be sure to have 3-1 or better odds in your favor. In other words, always think in terms of probabilities.

Chapter 2. Things are easier now since the 'action' is more liquid and public opinion based on weak authorities.

Chapter 3. Keep up to date on new angles: read what the professional reads.

Chapter 4. The public doesn't lose their fair share. Statistically, they should only have 10% losses. Instead, many lose everything they bring to the track. They do this by allowing emotion to switch their betting style from one race to the next, and always switch at the wrong time. If they just picked 'position 6' every time, they would only lose 10%, but they bet little when they should bet much, and much when they shouldn't bet at all. It is the 'switches' that pull money from the public. Having 'guts' means sticking with your strategy in the face of losses. You can count on the public being unable to demonstrate guts.

Chapter 5. Ever changing cycles: The game will only last as long as people see enough winners to convince them they have a chance. If the 'true' odds become obvious, no one would play. Therefore, there must always be long shot winners and ceaseless change in the strategies of the winners. Early in the season, the public badly assesses the odds, the pros bet them and win. Late in the season, the public loads up on the good horses, but this reduces the odds, so the long shots get undervalued and provide the winning odds.

Chapter 6-7. Be aware the owners and trainers need not always focus on winning. Know what motivates the owner of the horse to enter the race. Are they building a reputation? Trying to win purses? Trying to turn the public against the horse, then win as a long shot? Understand the rules constraining owners and trainers. Know the claiming rules. Know how to read the weight reports.

Chapter 8: Sum the odds. The odds are reported as 3-1, 4-1, etc, so it isn't obvious that the sum should be 100. Convert the odds to percentages and sum the list. If the sum of each horse's chance of winning is less than 100, bet on every horse and you are sure to win. If you are sure a favorite won't win, you can create a sure win by betting on everything else (less than 100 sum). The track is sure to make money if the sum is over 100.

Chapter 9: Make your own price lines (100% books) and test them every day (paper workouts)

Chapter 10: Pittsburgh Phil's system: buy the stuff that no one wants. It takes guts to stick with the system. It killed Pittsburgh Phil at 52. It takes guts, that is why it doesn't matter if everyone knows the system. Guts isn't the ability to ignore fear, it is the ability to stick to your original goal, process and strategy. (!!!!)

Chapter 11: Money management: the obvious, don't spend your living expenses, but also, the important thing is your emotional balance. Without balance, you switch and that is how to lose.

Chapter 12: you cannot grind, you must speculate. You can't chisel, you must gamble. Accept and expect more losers than winners.

Chapter 13-15: Reading the racing publications

The rest of the book is a detailed plan for seasonal betting, January through December, one chapter per month.

While reading, I speculated on how to apply this to the securities markets. What is a 'race', a day of trading? In terms of stocks, what are 'claiming races'? What are weights?

The notion of 'ever changing cycles' is really interesting. The 'racing game' is clearly a product of some evolutionary process that weeded out less robust 'betting markets'. By looking at the 'game' as a whole, one can see it as an activity perfectly designed, but having no designer. Most will lose, but still find it enjoyable enough to continue the playing. Further, it is impossible to investigate unemotionally, since the attraction perpetuating the games existence is entirely emotional. The opacity is central to the game's survival.

Excellent!!One of the best books on professional speculation around!! How rare is the man that understands mass psychology and how to "copper" the public. Heard famous speculator vic niederhoffer used to make this reqd reading for all new employees. It is a true gem on the great endevour of speculation and the speculative mind.

Rat Race Blues is a real find. This account of the life of Gigi Gryce was an inspiration to me. We read it in our library book club for January 2003, where it was a great hit with all our members.
I would recommend it to anyone who is curious about life and/ or music and particularly to young people, struggling against the odds of poverty and racism.

The book rediscovers Gigi Gryce, a name that appears on the records of numerous famous Jazz musicians,Cifford Brown, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Max Roach, Thelonius Monk, Donald Byrd, Art Farmer.... to name only a few.
The research done by Noal Cohen and Michael Fitzgerald is meticulous and sensitive. They manage to give us an insiders view of the Jazz scene in the 50's and early 60's, depicting Gigi's whole life from a strict and loving upbringing in Pensecola, Florida to his education at the Boston Conservatory; heady days in New York playing with all the greats and starting a family; his attempts to help musicians protect their publishing rights and finally his reinvention of himself as a teacher in the Bronx.
For the most part, the authors are in the background, letting the musicians, family and friends speak for themselves about their memories of Gryce. Some of the anecdotes are hilarious. There are also great photos, including one of a young Quincy Jones and Clifford Brown who worked with Gigi in the Lionel Hampton band.
Finding Gigi Gryce is akin to finding Zora Neal Hurston or more recently Henry Grimes.
Congratulations to the authors for a book that sets a high standard for biographies of musicians.

This book is the most complete discography you will ever find about the jazz great, GiGi Gryce. It is well-written and a very fascinating history of jazz, itself, revealing many "insider" type anecdotes about the old days in jazz history. There are many interviews with famous jazz greats but best of all, the story of a very talented and enigmatic gentleman, Mr. GiGi Gryce
Kudos to to Cohen and Fitzgerald for a Class A book destined to become a textbook reference on this period in jazz history.