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The
Envy Of The World: On Being A Black Man In America
By Ellis Cose
Washington Square Press - January 2002
ISBN: 0-7434-2715-7 - Hardcover
Nonfiction / African American
Reviewed
by: Alvin C Romer, MyShelf.Com
Buy
a Copy
Ellis Cose, a Newsweek Columnist, penned a provocative if not intrusive
book on why Black men are feared, admired, shunned, and despised in a
perceived racist society...and how they can overcome maladies that have
allowed views of inferiority to proliferate. The Envy Of The World: On
Being A Black Man In America is a superb book! Well written and full of
insight, its significance should be appreciated within the style that
is was written. It explains with clarity the challenges facing black men
in twenty-first century America and offer ways out of the defeatist-type
attitudes and despair that wreak havoc in the black community. It's my
feeling, and the author concurs, that black men have never had more opportunity
for success than they do today. But are the resources and said opportunities
being adequately utilized to the fullest? Are the adversities, misconceptions,
and stereotypical assessments that White America typically view blacks
enough to warrant change? What steps need to be initiated to uplift the
black man in this society?
These
questions not only are answered, but show progressively some of the experiences
that are faced by others trying to find solutions to the aforementioned,
acknowledging various systemic obstacles that tend to stifle change. Sequenced
in six chapters in his classic interview style, Mr Cose offers and supports
his theory with reductive reasoning why they ARE the envy of the world.
This is done by garnering the experiences of a broad range of black men,
which culminates with 'Twelve Things You Must Know To Survive and Thrive
In America'. He concludes by offering this gem: "There is more leeway
than there has ever been in history for you to become whatever you would
be; for you to accomplish whatever you dread; for you to escape the prisons
of stereotypes and caricatures that our forefathers could not avoid"
This in itself should be the impetus and reason to want to read such a
book that seem to be the perfect anecdote for the future of a race.
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