Not So Black and White

A History of Race from White Supremacy to Identity Politics

Not So Black and White
Kenan Malik
RRP:
NZ$ 49.99
Our Price:
NZ$ 41.24
Hardback
h234 x 156mm - 328pg
5 Jan 2023 UK
International import eta 7-19 days
9781787387768
Out Of Stock
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A powerful new history of the idea of race, forcing us to rethink today' s culture wars. Is white privilege real? How racist is the working class? Why has left-wing antisemitism grown? Who benefits most when anti-racists speak in racial terms? The ' culture wars' have generated ferocious argument, but little clarity. This book takes the long view, explaining the real origins of ' race' in Western thought, and tracing its path from those beginnings in the Enlightenment all the way to our own fractious world. In doing so, leading thinker Kenan Malik upends many assumptions underpinning today' s heated debates around race, culture, whiteness and privilege. Malik interweaves this history of ideas with a parallel narrative: the story of the modern West' s long, failed struggle to escape ideas of race, leaving us with a world riven by identity politics. Through these accounts, he challenges received wisdom, revealing the forgotten history of a racialised working class, and questioning fashionable concepts like cultural appropriation. Not So Black and White is both a lucid history rewriting the story of race, and an elegant polemic making an anti-racist case against the politics of identity.
' A precious provocation. Combining valuable historical observations with acute political commentary, Malik unsettles the absurdities, pieties and default settings of contemporary race-talk. ' -- Paul Gilroy, author of ' The Black Atlantic' ' A stunning journey through the ideas that have shaped our thinking about race over the years; a magical accomplishment that is at once nuanced and gripping. ' -- Remi Adekoya, author of ' Biracial Britain' ' From one of our keenest and clearest guides through the labyrinths of identity, this book fills me with hope. A tour de force of courageous and empathetic common sense. ' -- Thomas Chatterton Williams, author of ' Self-Portrait in Black and White' ' A brilliant book on one of the most important issues of our time. Malik writes with great clarity and a profound sense of purpose. If you want to read just one book on modern racism, this is the one. ' -- Vivek Chibber, author of ' Postcolonial Theory and the Specter of Capital' , and Professor of Sociology, New York University ' This erudite, sensitive book overturns the core assumptions of contemporary identity politics. Highly recommended for all looking beyond the narrow confines of purity politics to embrace the complexities of what it is to be human, and construct a better world. ' -- Olufemi Taiwo, author of ' Against Decolonisation' ' Smart, pacy and sharply argued, this is the book you need to read about contemporary politics. Malik delves into the origins of twenty-first-century identity politics, exposes its inherent individualism, and offers thought-provoking progressive alternatives. ' -- Selina Todd, author of ' The People: The Rise and Fall of the Working Class' and ' Snakes and Ladders' ' Malik attempts nothing less than to explain why we inhabit racial identity as we do today, and at what political cost. Most serious readers will quarrel with something in his argument, but political culture as a whole will be enriched by this deeply thoughtful, learned and brave work. ' -- Wendy Brown, author of ' Nihilistic Times' and ' Regulating Aversion: Tolerance in the Age of Identity and Empire'
Kenan Malik is a writer, lecturer, broadcaster and Observer columnist. A former Moral Maze panellist, he has presented BBC Radio 3' s Nightwavesand Radio 4' s Analysis. His previous books include ' The Quest for a Moral Compass' , and ' From Fatwa to Jihad' , which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize.

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