1st Edition

The Politics of the Black Nation A Twenty-five-year Retrospective

By Georgia A. Persons Copyright 2001
    311 Pages
    by Routledge

    312 Pages
    by Routledge

    This volume of the National Political Science Review, the official publication of the National Political Science Association, is anchored by a major symposium on The Politics of the Black "Nation," the book authored by Matthew Holden in 1973, which is now considered one of the most influential books in the field of black politics. Twenty-five years provide a sufficient timespan on which to base a retrospective of the book and simultaneously to reflect upon the evolution of the black liberation struggle, more formally called, African American politics. In the present age, there is not much talk about "a black nation," certainly not as was heard during the 1960s and mid-1970s. Yet there is a persistent sense of separateness in that there is constant thought and talk of "Black America" as a significantly separate communal entity. Black Americans are seen as a racially and culturally distinct community holding to social, political, economic interests which have special significance and poignancy for them. Holden's perception of the nature of the times in the early seventies stands in sharp contrast to how contemporary analysts of African American politics tend to perceive the nature of African Americans' role in political life and their position in American society in the present age. In this retrospective, readers have the opportunity to get a sense of what Holden argued of the seven essays that make up his seminal volume and to consider how well Holden's observations have stood the tests of time. In addition to the essays presented at the symposium, which pointedly discuss Holden's work, there are essays dealing with "African American Politics in Constancy and Change," by contributors including Charles Henry, David Covin, Robert C. Smith, Clyde Lusane, Cheryl Miller, D'Linell Finley, and Sekou Franklin, among others. Other features are a highly informative discussion of the Literary Digest magazine's Straw-Vote Presidential Polls, 1916-1936, and a review essay by Peter Ronaye in which he discusses "America as 'New World' Power: U.S. Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War Era." The volume concludes with fifteen book reviews by knowledgeable scholars. The Politics of the Black "Nation" is a timely, thought-provoking volume. It will be of immense value to ethnic studies specialists, African American studies scholars, political scientists, historians, and sociologists.

    SYMPOSIUM: THE POLITICS OF THE BLACK NATION A TWENTY-FIVE-YEAR RETROSPECTIVE; Introduction to the Symposium: The Politics of the Black Nation Revisited; The Politics of the Black Nation: Significance and Context of the Book; In the Mirror of Time: Unbound Interests and the New Black Leadership: A Retrospective Critique of Essay I: Centrifugal Influences on Black Politics; Clientage, Opposition, and Withdrawal: Three Forms of External Politics: A Reexamination of Essay II; Revisiting Black Nationalist Politics: An Assessment of Essay III: Politics as a Collective Psychiatry: A Critique of Withdrawal; Looking Backward While Moving Forward: Comments on Essay IV: Toward Black Regrouping; Toward Black Regrouping: Comments on Essay V: The Next Five Years: I. Morale and Objective Capacity; Politics and Organizational Options: Comments on Essay VI: The Next Five Years: II. Organizational Options; Modifying Political Tactics: Comments on Essay VII: The Next Five Years: III. Modifying Political Tactics; AFRICAN AMERICAN POLITICS IN CONSTANCY AND CHANGE; Erasing Racial Justice, or How Liberals Became Black; The Micro-World of the Black Activist: An Examination During the Ebb Tide of a Social Movement; Rating Black Leaders; African American Voting Behavior, President Clinton's Scandal, and the 1998 Election: The Search for New Variables; Black No More: Race Construction and the 2000 Census; Presidential Advocacy of Welfare Reform: From Roosevelt to Clinton; Crime Fighting and the Exclusionary Rule: Barna Talk on Giving the Police More Leeway to Gather Evidence in Criminal Cases; Black Organizational Development and the Black Student Leadership Network; REFLECTIONS; African American Public Opinion and the Pre-Scientific Polls: The Literacy Digest Magazine's Straw-Vote Presidential Polls, 1916-1936; Review Essay; America as a New World Power: U.S. Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War Era; Book Reviews; Michael H. Armacost. Friends or Rivals? The Insider's Account of U. S.-Japan Relations (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), xiv + 271 pp.; ISBN 0-231-10488-X (cloth).; Kathleen L. Barber, ed. Proportional Representation and Election Reform in Ohio (Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1995), xi + 383 pp.; ISBN 0-8142-0660-3 (cloth)/0-8142-066101 (paper).; Kevin Boyle and Juliet Sheen, eds. Freedom of Religion and Belief: A World Report (New York: Routledge, 1998), xxxii + 475 pp.; ISBN 0-415-15978-4.; Davis Howard Davis. American Environmental Politics (Chicago: Nelson-Hall Publishers, 1998), xiii + 257 pp.; ISBN 0-8304-1518-1 (paper); Richard F. Fenno, Jr. Senators on the Campaign Trail: The Politics of Representation (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996.), ix + 375 pp.; ISBN 0-8061-3062-8 (paper).; Keith Fitzgerald. The Face of the Nation: Immigration, the State, and National Identity (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1996), xii + 285 pp.; ISBN 0-8047-2485-7 (cloth).; Anthony Giddens. Politics, Sociology and Social Theory: Encounters with Classical and Contemporary Social Thought (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995), viii + 304 pp.; ISBN 0-8047-2622-1 (cloth)/0-8047-2624-8 (paper).; Charles Wesley Harris. Congress and the Governance of the Nation’s Capital: The Conflict of Federal and Local Interests (Washington, D.C: Georgetown University Press, 1995), xvii + 294 pp.; ISBN 0-87840-563 (cloth)/0-87840-564~X (paper).; Lane Kenworthy. In Search of National Economic Success: Balancing Competition and Cooperation (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1995), xii + 274 pp; ISBN O-8039-7161-3 (paper).; Seymour Martin Lipset. American Exceptionalilsm: A Double-Edge Sword (New York: W.W. Norton, 1996), 352 pp.; ISBN 0-393-03725-8 (cloth).; Burdett A. Loomis. The Contemporary Congress, 2nd ed. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998), xiii + 209 pp.; ISBN 0-312-17636-8 (cloth).; Marcus D. Pohlmann and Michael P. Kirby. Racial Politics at the Crossroads: Memphis Elects Dr. W.W. Herenton (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1996), xi + 269 pp.; ISBN 0-87049-926-2 (paper).; Wilbur C. Rich. Black Mayors and School Politics: The Failure of Reform in Detroit, Gary, and Newark (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1996), xiii + 221 pp.; ISBN 0-8153-2340-9 (paper).; Hanes Walton, Jr. African American Power and Politics: The Political Context Variable . (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997), xxxvii + 475 pp.; ISBN 0-231-10418-9 (cloth)/0-231-10419-7 (paper).; Invitation to the Scholarly Community

    Biography

    Georgia A. Persons