Anthony Appiah

"Race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, sexuality: in the past couple of decades, a great deal of attention has been paid to such collective identities. They clamor for recognition and respect, sometimes at the expense of other things we value. But to what extent do "identities" constrain our freedom, our ability to make an individual life, and to what extent do they enable our individuality? In this work, philosopher and African Studies scholar Kwame Anthony Appiah draws on thinkers through the ages and across the globe to explore such questions." "The Ethics of Identity takes seriously both the claims of individuality - the task of making a life - and the claims of identity, these large and often abstract social categories through which we define ourselves."--Jacket.

In America today, the problem of achieving racial justice - whether through "color blind" policies or through affirmative action - provokes more noisy name-calling than fruitful deliberation. In Color Conscious, K. Anthony Appiah and Amy Gutmann, two eminent moral and political philosophers, seek to clear the ground for a discussion of the place of race in politics and in our moral lives. Provocative and insightful, their essays tackle different aspects of the question of racial justice; together they provide a compelling response to our nation's most vexing problem. Appiah begins by establishing the problematic nature of the idea of race. He draws on the scholarly consensus that "race" has no legitimate biological basis, exploring the history of its invention as a social category and showing how the concept has been used to explain differences among groups of people by mistakenly attributing various "essences" to them. Appiah argues that while people of color may still need to gather together, in the face of racism, under the banner of race, they need also to balance carefully the calls of race against the many other dimensions of individual identity; and he suggests, finally, what this might mean for our political life. Gutmann examines alternative political responses to racial injustice. She argues that American politics cannot be fair to all citizens by being color blind because American society is not color blind. Fairness, not color blindness, is a fundamental principle of justice. Whether policies should be color conscious, class conscious, or both in particular situations, depends on an open-minded assessment of their fairness and their capacity to move us closer to a society with liberty and justice for all. Exploring timely issues of university admissions, corporate hiring, and political representation, Gutmann develops a moral perspective that supports a commitment to constitutional democracy. Appiah and Gutmann write candidly and carefully, presenting many-faceted interpretations of a host of controversial issues. Instead of supplying simple answers to complex questions, they offer - to citizens of every color - principled starting points for the ongoing national discussions about race.

Fanon, born in Martinique and educated in France, is generally regarded as the leading anti-colonial thinker of the 20th century. His first book is an analysis of the impact of colonial subjugation on the black psyche. It is a very personal account of Fanon's experience being black: as a man, an intellectual, and a party to a French education.--Adapted from wikipedia.org.

An illustrated biography of the Harlem poet whose works gave voice to the joy and pain of the Black experience in America.

"In her perceptive introduction to this edition, Irene Diggs sets this classic autobiography against its broad historical context and critically analyzes its theoretical and methodological significance."--Provided by publisher.

Here is a thorough, vividly written introduction to contemporary philosophy and some of the most crucial questions of human existence: the nature of mind and knowledge, the status of moral claims, the existence of God, the role of science, and the mysteries of language, among them. In Thinking It Through, esteemed philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah shows us what it means to "do" philosophy in our time and why it should matter to anyone who wishes to live a more thoughtful life. Opposing the common misconceptions that being a philosopher means espousing a set ofphilosophical beliefs, or being a follower of a particular thinker, Appiah argues that "the result of philosophical exploration is not the end of inquiry in a settled opinion, but a mind resting more comfortably among many possibilities, or else the reframing of the question, and a new inquiry....

Inspired by a landmark exhibition of art on view at the Guggenheim Museum, this book provides an accessible overview to one of the world's great art traditions. Africa is the birthplace of human civilization, and produced some of humankind's earliest art objects. This book presents masterworks organized into seven geographical areas - Ancient Egypt and Nubia, eastern Africa, southern Africa, central Africa, western Africa and the Guinea Coast, Sahel and Savanna, and northern Africa. Spectacular sculptures in wood, bronze, and stone provide stunning proof of the aesthetic strength of African traditions, even in the case of utilitarian works that were not made to be "art". In some cases, the very concept of art was foreign to their makers, as Kwame Anthony Appiah explains in his essay. In an epic overview of Africa's earliest history, Ekpo Eyo makes a strong case for dispensing with the popular misconception that northern Africa - northwestern Africa and Egypt - is somehow not an integral part of the African continent. Peter Mark addresses the religious and cultural interaction between northern and sub-Saharan Africa during the spread of Islam and Christianity. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the reception of African art in the West in the early part of this century, outlining how these works - like most everything from Africa - provoked "a certain anxiety" in the Western imagination. Suzanne Preston Blier elucidates the myths surrounding the art of Africa. And an international team of scholars explores the significance of each of the objects reproduced. The volume is rounded off with a selected bibliography.

The life story of a major Black American writer, based on access to FBI, CIA, and State Department files, highlights Wright's poor Southern boyhood, his early allegiance to the Communist party, and its consequences.