Betrayal : how Black intellectuals have abandoned the ideals of the civil rights era /

Betrayal : how Black intellectuals have abandoned the ideals of the civil rights era /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Baker, Houston A., Jr., 1943-
Imprint:	New York : Columbia University Press, ©2008.
Description:	1 online resource (xxi, 242 pages)
Language:	English
Subject:	African American intellectuals -- Political activity. African Americans -- Civil rights. Civil rights movements -- United States. POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Political Freedom & Security -- Civil Rights. POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Political Freedom & Security -- Human Rights. SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Ethnic Studies -- General. African Americans -- Civil rights. Civil rights movements. United States. Electronic books. Electronic books.
Format:	E-Resource Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11221191

Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:	9780231511445 0231511442 1282872052 9781282872059 9780231139649 0231139640
Digital file characteristics:	data file
Notes:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-232) and index. In English. Print version record.
Summary:	Houston A. Baker Jr. condemns those black intellectuals who, he believes, have turned their backs on the tradition of racial activism in America. These individuals choose personal gain over the interests of the black majority, whether they are espousing neoconservative positions that distort the contours of contemporary social and political dynamics or abandoning race as an important issue in the study of American literature and culture. Most important, they do a disservice to the legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King Jr., and others who have fought for black rights. In the literature, speeches, and academic and public behavior of some black intellectuals in the past quarter century, Baker identifies a "hungry generation" eager for power, respect, and money. Baker critiques his own impoverished childhood in the "Little Africa" section of Louisville, Kentucky, to understand the shaping of this new public figure. He also revisits classical sites of African American literary and historical criticism and critique. Baker devotes chapters to the writing and thought of such black academic superstars as Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson, and Henry Louis Gates Jr.; Hoover Institution senior fellow Shelby Steele; Yale law professor Stephen Carter; and Manhattan Institute fellow John McWhorter. His provocative investigation into their disingenuous posturing exposes what Baker deems a tragic betrayal of King's legacy.
Other form:	Print version: Baker, Houston A. Betrayal. New York : Columbia University Press, ©2008
Standard no.:	10.7312/bake13964