RECENT NONFICTION

"The circle of winners is eclectic this year," notes Loretta J. Williams, PhD, Director of the Gustavus Myers Center. The national panel of reviewers found themselves with "some choices that were both delightful and hard." The Center is pleased that more books are being published lately in a variety of genres about oppression and ways tried, or proposed, to dismantle structures of injustice.

The Myers Center has for 15 years honored authors, books, and publishers advancing knowledge of diverse North American experiences, and of ways that people have acted, or could act, to change patterns and particularities of dominant/subordinate relationships based on race, class, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, physical abilities, or political practice. Close to 300 books were reviewed this year, the Myers Circle of Winners includes books from well known and little-known publishers:

Wei, Deborah and Kamel, Rachael, Eds., Resistance in Paradise: Rethinking 100 Years of US Involvement in the Caribbean and the Pacific, American Friends Service Committee & the Office of Curriculum Support, School District of Philadelphia, 1998

Far more than a curriculum guide, Resistance breaks the silence about the US's ruling power role as invader of the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, Hawai'i, and Samoa. It was developed and written through an innovative multiracial collaboration assembled by a noted nonprofit organization and an urban school district. Excellent analysis, photos, graphics for a wide variety of uses beyond classrooms.

Boime, Albert, The Unveiling of the National Icons: A Plea for Patriotic Iconoclasm in a Nationalist Era, Cambridge University Press, 1998

This author brilliantly discusses how ruling elites have constructed and dominated the meanings of the US Flag, the Statue of Liberty, the Veterans Memorial, and the like. In so doing, they have constructed a feudalistic national identity for Americans.

Bradley, Patricia, Slavery, Propaganda, and the American Revolution, University Press of Mississippi 1998

Engaging documentation of the "spin" used in the radical patriot press around British colonists as "slaves." The metaphor and accompanying stereotypes worked there, but had the effect of "disappearing" talk of the continuing enslavement of Africans in the colonies. This excellent analysis of Sam Adams and the Boston Gazette and other northern press is most relevant today.

Cecelski, David S. & Tyson, Timothy B., Editors, Democracy Betrayed: The Wilmington Race Riot of 1898 and Its Legacy, University of North Carolina Press, 1998

A collection of essays, and angles of vision, stemming from an important yearlong reflection in Wilmington of 1898 white mob action overthrowing the local government via creation and manipulation of fears of Black domination in the late 19th century. The book makes suppressed history public. Eminently accessible history of an orchestrated campaign restoring white supremacy with lessons for today's mood of politicized resentment.

Cooper, J. California, The Wake of the Wind: A Novel, Doubleday, 1998

There is a lot to be learned about courage and stamina in this fictionalized account of a family's move from enslavement on to so-called freedom. A human face is presented on survival issues around race and racism, gender and sexism, power relations in general.

Deloria, Philip J., Playing Indian, Yale University Press, 1998

Superbly written account about the ways non-Indian Americans have acted out their fascination with, yet distancing from, Indians of North America. The analysis of appropriation offers insight into the role of disguise and costume in the white American psyche.

Finnegan, William, Cold New World: Growing Up in a Harder Country, Random House, 1998

Social journalism at its best in this account of the experiences of youth in four economically distressed families and communities in New Haven, San Augustine, Yakima Valley, and Los Angeles County. Insight into the hardening class structure being built today in the United States.

Lipsitz, George, The Possessive Investment in Whiteness: How White People Profit From Identity Politics, Temple University Press, 1998

This state-of-the-art, progressive, American studies offering emphasizes the economic benefits of dominant and subordinate relationships. The series of essays is useful in countering right-wing arguments that whites are victimized by the successes of civil rights.

Miller, Diane Helene, Freedom to Differ:The Shaping of the Gay and Lesbian Struggle for Civil Rights, New York University Press, 1998

This analysis focuses on how gay/lesbian civil rights initiatives can simultaneously help and inhibit the movement for liberation of lesbians. Through a politically oriented analysis of the media coverage of high profile cases, the author examines rhetorical strategies and offers some bold propositions.

Russell, Katheryn K., The Color of Crime: Racial Hoaxes, White Fear, Black Protectionism, Police Harassment, and Other Macroaggressions, New York University Press, 1998

The author, a criminologist, carves a well-reasoned way through the politics of race and crime. She documents racial bias in the system and demonstrates how historical and biased perceptions affect the day-to-day life of persons of color. She also offers fairness principles of a racially fair criminal justice system.

Torres, Andres & Velasquez, Jose E., Eds., The Puerto Rican Movement: Voices From The Diaspora, Temple University Press, 1998

In-depth reflections of organizers, scholars, artists, and activists working in the 1960s and 1970s around independence for Puerto Rico present insight into the difficulties and pleasures of organizing locally in the US when survival needs tended to have a greater priority than independence in people's thinking and activism.

Troutt, David Dante, The Monkey Suit and Other Short Fiction on African Americans and Justice, New Press, 1998

A set of awesome short stories, brilliantly written, that are based on real Supreme Court cases where race was a key factor. The author fictionalizes the thoughts of a protagonist in each case, and explores the uses and abuses of power.

The Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America, Boston University School of Social Work, 264 Bay State Rd., Boston MA 02215;www.bu.edu/ssw/MYERSCENTER/index.htm