Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Worst Black Books of 2009

1. Barack Like Me: The Chocolate-Covered Truth
by David Alan Grier


A transparent take-the-money-and-run rip-off of no substance ostensibly published to cash-in on the president’s popularity. The most out of touch offering since last year’s worst offering, Shelby Steele’s pre-election opus explaining why Obama couldn’t win.

2. More than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City
by William Julius Wilson


Although this much-ballyhooed book arrived with a lot of fanfare
trumpeting it as introducing a new “holistic approach to race,” quite frankly, I found it to be a rather blah rehash of old wine in new wineskins. Quite simply, you’re actually going to have to come up with truly fresh ideas to earn this critic’s stamp of approval as an innovative thinker, Harvard credentials notwithstanding.
Trust me, it’s hard find a more vague assessment of the State of Black America than this one by out of touch, Professor William Julius Wilson: “We can confidently state… that regardless of the relative significance of structural and cultural factors in black family fragmentation, they interact in ways far too important for social scientists and policy makers to ignore.” Zzzz… Zzzz… Zzzz…

3. The Conversation: How Black Men and Women Can Build Loving, Trusting Relationships
by Hill Harper


For some reason, actor Hill Harper decided to write a relationship advice book even though he’s never been married and freely admits to a checkered past in terms of dating. In this ill-conceived opus, moreover, he makes the tactical error of going public with his private life, relating how “This beautiful Black queen is my great blessing here on earth.” And in his concluding chapter, he waxes romantic about their solid future together, despite the odds against long-distance liaisons when one person’s on the East Coast while the other lives out in L.A.
Regrettably, the couple has reportedly already called it quits, which makes you wonder why Hill’s editors didn’t try to talk him out of mixing business and pleasure on the pages of his book, especially given his spotty track record. Sorry, it’s kind of hard to take any advice from a bachelor-turned-love guru who didn’t see this safe falling from the sky about to land on his head.

1 comment:

Elise Walker said...

Hello! Thanks for these helpful reviews. I'm thinking of buying the third book and stumbled upon this blog.