While the election of Barak Obama certainly marks a giant step forward in race relations in the U.S., the Jeremiah Wright episode--which the authors situate in a prophetic tradition going back to the Puritans--highlights the enduring realities of race in America, and just how misleading is the notion of a “post-racial” American society.
I can imagine buyers saying this is old news, but the fact is that I have noticed since Obama moved into the White House a tendency in commentators to stop taking about race or to wonder what Eric Holder's problem was when he called us a nation of cowards. What Obama's election should stimulate is a more honest, intelligent discussion of the nuanced strains of race in America, and that is what Walker and Smithers deliver here.
