Workin' on the Chain Gang: Shaking Off the Dead Hand of History (Class: Culture) - Softcover

Walter Mosley

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0472031988 ISBN 13: 9780472031986

Publisher: University of Michigan Press, 2006

Synopsis

Though slavery was outlawed nearly a century and a half ago, all of us are still in figurative chains of one kind or another. Thus argues Walter Mosley in ""Workin' on the Chain Gang"", a passionate examination of the social and economic injustices that continue to shackle the American people. Each one of us, Mosley claims, is restrained by a system that values money over humanity, power over truth, and conformity over independent thinking. Yet even as Mosley paints a sobering vision of contemporary economic and political reality, he offers a plan to break the fetters of our oppression. First we must recognize that our history is deeply informed by the black experience. Then we must cast off the all-consuming accoutrements of an economic system that keeps us blind to our own and others' humanity. Only then can we hope to achieve our true potential.

About this title

Review:

Mosley's nonfiction effort brings his singular voice and innovative views on race and class to the fore. By primarily exploring the class differences that pose the greatest challenge to our democracy, Mosley goes beyond old racial constructs to reveal the literal and metaphoric 'chains' that bind us....Mosley raises intriguing questions about our own depth of commitment to making the world a more compassionate place. - Black Issues Book Review ""A bracing and provocative declaration of intellectual and political independence."" - Publishers Weekly

From the Back Cover:

A fiery call to arms from one of America's most brilliant black voices

"Black American history is American history. There is an echo of Jim Crow in the HMO: people shunted aside, denied access, and allowed to suffer with no real democratic recourse. Downsizing is an excellent way of robbing a worker of her accrued wealth. The widening gap between rich and poor is a way of demonizing the latter, because poverty is a sin in the richest country in the world. These new systems of injustice wear the trappings of freedom, but they are just as unacceptable as their forebears. The only difference is that under these systems we all suffer. This time everyone is a potential victim".

-- from WORKIN' ON THE CHAIN GANG

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Michigan Press
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0472031988
• ISBN 13: 9780472031986
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128