Table of Contents

PrefaceChapter 1. Non-Cartesian Sums: Philosophy and the African-American ExperienceChapter 2. Alternative EpistemologiesChapter 3. "But What Are You Really?' The Metaphysics of RaceChapter 4. Dark Ontologies: Blacks, Jews, and White SupremacyChapter 5. Revisionist Ontologies: Theorizing White SupremacyChapter 6. The Racial PolityChapter 7. White Right: The Idea of a Herrenvolk EthicsChapter 8. Whose Fourth of July? Frederick Douglass and "Original Intent"Notes
Index

About the Author

Charles W. Mills is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Illinois, Chicago. He is the author of The Racial Contract, also from Cornell, and From Class to Race: Essays in White Marxism and Black Radicalism.

Reviews

A collection of eight engagingly written, erudite essays.... There are two major themes here: the first concerns the philosophical professoriate, which is predominately—and, the author contends, dominatingly—white; the second is whether or not race moderates philosophical consciousness. These are deep questions, and in dealing with them, Mills address a broad spectrum of issues: black-Jewish relations, gender (the progress of women vs. blacks), white supremacy, racism, genocide, jurisprudence, and much more. The thought of philosophers and others from ancient times to the present is given incisive analyses, as are epistemological, metaphysical, ethical, political, sociological, and literary considerations. The subject of this book is long overdue for airing. Highly recommended for a variety of pertinent academic and larger public library collections.
*Library Journal*

According to Mills... racism is not an aberration of an otherwise nearly ideal American democratic political system but is part of the political fabric, inherited from European imperialists. Mills examines emergent critical race theory and its movement beyond the political and sociological arena to the venerable territory of philosophy. Copiously researched and footnoted, it is an outstanding work that addresses one of the many racial issues of our times.
*Booklist*

The effort to make the reality of racism and black life visible is achieved— with a great deal of thought-provoking ideas.
*Ethics*

A collection of eight engagingly written, erudite essays.... There are two major themes here: the first concerns the philosophical professoriate, which is predominately-and, the author contends, dominatingly-white; the second is whether or not race moderates philosophical consciousness. These are deep questions, and in dealing with them, Mills address a broad spectrum of issues: black-Jewish relations, gender (the progress of women vs. blacks), white supremacy, racism, genocide, jurisprudence, and much more. The thought of philosophers and others from ancient times to the present is given incisive analyses, as are epistemological, metaphysical, ethical, political, sociological, and literary considerations. The subject of this book is long overdue for airing. Highly recommended for a variety of pertinent academic and larger public library collections.

According to Mills... racism is not an aberration of an otherwise nearly ideal American democratic political system but is part of the political fabric, inherited from European imperialists. Mills examines emergent critical race theory and its movement beyond the political and sociological arena to the venerable territory of philosophy. Copiously researched and footnoted, it is an outstanding work that addresses one of the many racial issues of our times.

The effort to make the reality of racism and black life visible is achieved- with a great deal of thought-provoking ideas.