In his major bestseller, Race Matters, philosopher Cornel West burst onto the national scene with his searing analysis of the scars of racism in American democracy. Race Matters has become a contemporary classic, still in print after ten years, having sold more than four hundred thousand copies. A mesmerizing speaker with a host of fervidly devoted fans, West gives as many as one hundred public lectures a year and appears regularly on radio and television. Praised by The New York Times for his "ferocious moral vision" and hailed by Newsweek as "an elegant prophet with attitude," he bridges the gap between black and white opinion about the country's problems.
In Democracy Matters, West returns to the analysis of the arrested development of democracy-both in America and in the crisis-ridden Middle East. In a strikingly original diagnosis, he argues that if America is to become a better steward of democratization around the world, we must first wake up to the long history of imperialist corruption that has plagued our own democracy. Both our failure to foster peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the crisis of Islamist anti-Americanism stem largely from hypocrisies in our dealings with the world. Racism and imperial expansionism have gone hand in hand in our country's inexorable drive toward hegemony, and our current militarism is only the latest expression of that drive. Even as we are shocked by Islamic fundamentalism, our own brand of fundamentalism, which West dubs Constantinian Christianity, has joined forces with imperialist corporate and political elites in an unholy alliance, and four decades after the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., insidious racism still inflicts debilitating psychic pain on so many of our citizens.
But there is a deep democratic tradition in America of impassioned commitment to the fight against imperialist corruptions-the last great expression of which was the civil rights movement led by Dr. King-and West brings forth the powerful voices of that great democratizing tradition in a brilliant and deeply moving call for the revival of our better democratic nature. His impassioned and provocative argument for the revitalization of America's democracy will reshape the terms of the raging national debate about America's role in today's troubled world.

Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism

Cornel West

Reference

Penguin??Books

The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere represents a rare opportunity to experience a diverse group of preeminent philosophers confronting one pervasive contemporary concern: what role does—or should—religion play in our public lives? Reflecting on her recent work concerning state violence in Israel-Palestine, Judith Butler explores the potential of religious perspectives for renewing cultural and political criticism, while Jürgen Habermas, best known for his seminal conception of the public sphere, thinks through the ambiguous legacy of the concept of "the political" in contemporary theory. Charles Taylor argues for a radical redefinition of secularism, and Cornel West defends civil disobedience and emancipatory theology. Eduardo Mendieta and Jonathan VanAntwerpen detail the immense contribution of these philosophers to contemporary social and political theory, and an afterword by Craig Calhoun places these attempts to reconceive the significance of both religion and the secular in the context of contemporary national and international politics.

The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere (A Columbia / SSRC Book)

History

Jürgen Habermas

Judith Butler

Charles, Taylor

World

Columbia University Press

Sylvia Ann Hewlett, noted feminist scholar and child advocate, and Cornel West, Harvard philosopher and well-known human rights leader, join in a rare partnership to explore one of the most painful problem of our times. Why are hundreds of thousands of American children "dangling and dangerous" and millions more failing to thrive? At the heart of our children's agony is a frightening erosion of the parenting role - not because parents are less devoted than they used to be but because the whole world is stacked against them. Big business, government, and the wider culture are waging a silent war against parents, undermining the work they do. Adults raising children have been harmed by managerial greed, pounded by tax and housing policy, and invaded and degraded by the entertainment industry. In The War Against Parents, Hewlett and West present a blueprint for parent empowerment, which they call a G.I. Bill for the Twenty-first Century. United behind an agenda that spans the divides of race, gender, and class. The War Against Parents is both a visionary and an intimate book. Hewlett and West explore their childhoods -- strangely similar stories of growing up in family-centered blue-collar communities in Wales and California -- and with striking candor tell of their struggles to be a good mother and a good father in our parent-hurting society. Lending moral heft to the work parents do, Hewlett and West provide comfort and hope. There is not a parent among us who is not hungry for such healing.

The War Against Parents: What We Can Do for America's Beleaguered Moms and Dads

Sylvia Ann Hewlett

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Houghton/Mifflin

Sylvia Ann Hewlett, a white feminist, and Cornel West, a black human rights activist, join in a rare partnership to address the burning social issue of our time: the abandonment of America's parents. A "brave and personal book" (New York Post), The War Against Parents calls for a Parents' bill of Rights that gives new dignity to the parental role and restores our nation's commitment to the well-being of children.

Harvest

In this, his premiere work, Cornel West provides readers with a new understanding of the African American experience based largely on his own political and cultural perspectives borne out of his own life's experiences. He challenges African Americans to consider the incorporation of Marxism into their theological perspectives, thereby adopting the mindset that it is class more so than race that renders one powerless in America. Armed with a new introduction by the author, this Twentieth Anniversary Edition of Prophesy Deliverance! is a must have.

Prophesy Deliverance!

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Westminster/John Knox Press

Believing that African American religious studies has reached a crossroads, Cornel West and Eddie Glaude seek, in this landmark anthology, to steer the discipline into the future. Arguing that the complexity of beliefs, choices, and actions of African Americans need not be reduced to expressions of black religion, West and Glaude call for more careful reflection on the complex relationships of African American religious studies to conceptions of class, gender, sexual orientation, race, empire, and other values that continue to challenge our democratic ideals.

African American Religious Thought: An Anthology

Politics & Social Sciences

Eddie S. Glaude Jr.

Social Sciences

Democracy Matters Winning The Fight Agai

Penguin Press

Hewlett, a white woman, &amp; West, a black man, have co-authored this study on the virtual abandonment of parents -- poor &amp; middle class -- by our business, political, &amp; cultural elites. They require a Parents' Bill of Rights that gives new value &amp; dignity to the parental role &amp; restores our nation's commitment to the well-being of children. Moms &amp; dads have been hurt by managerial greed, pounded by tax &amp; housing policy, &amp; invaded &amp; degraded by the media. As a result, children have been left home alone to raise themselves on a cruel diet of junk food, gangster rap, &amp; trash talk shows. The authors seek to unite America's 62 million parents behind an agenda that spans the divide of race, gender, &amp; class &amp; promotes the rebuilding of families.

War Against Parents: What We Can Do for America's Beleaguered Moms & Dads

Parenting & Relationships

Parenting

Diane Pub Co.

'Cornel West is one of the most authentic, brilliant, prophetic, and healing voices in America today' --Marian Wright Edelman Nine of America's most influential artists, scholars, and public figures-Maya Angelou, Bill Bradley, Harry Belafonte, Patricia Williams, Wynton Marsalis, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, James Washington, James Forbes, and Haki Madhubuti-talk with Cornel West about their political awareness, art and politics, and the possibility of hope among African-Americans today.

Restoring Hope: Conversations on the Future of Black America

Beacon Press

In this provocative and captivating dialogue, hooks and West grapple with the dilemmas, contradictions and joys of Black intellectual life. Creating a spiritual, progressive, feminist, and ultimately organic definition of Black intellectuality, they passionately discuss issues ranging in subject matter from theology and the Left, to contemporary music, film, and fashion.

Breaking Bread: Insurgent Black Intellectual Life

Literature & Fiction

BELL HOOKS

United States

South End Press

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Books by Cornel West