Shame

How America's Past Sins Have Polarized Our Country

By: Shelby Steele

Narrated by: Randall Bain

Length: 4 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

A prominent conservative scholar traces the post-1960s divisions between the Right and the Left, taking aim at liberals' victimization of African Americans and their failure to offer a viable way forward for American society. The United States today is hopelessly polarized; the political Right and Left have hardened into rigid and deeply antagonistic camps, preventing any sort of progress. Amid the bickering and inertia, the promise of the 1960s--when we came together as a nation to fight for equality and universal justice--remains unfulfilled.

As Shelby Steele reveals in Shame, the roots of this impasse can be traced back to that decade of protest, when in the act of uncovering and dismantling our national hypocrisies--racism, sexism, militarism--liberals internalized the idea that there was something inauthentic, if not evil, in the American character. Since then, liberalism has been wholly concerned with redeeming modern America from the sins of the past and has derived its political legitimacy from the premise of a morally bankrupt America. The result has been a half century of well-intentioned but ineffective social programs, such as Affirmative Action. Steele reveals that not only have these programs failed, but they have in almost every case actively harmed America's minorities and poor. Ultimately, Steele argues, post-'60s liberalism has utterly failed to achieve its stated aim: true equality. Liberals, intending to atone for our past sins, have ironically perpetuated the exploitation of this country's least fortunate citizens.

It therefore falls to the Right to defend the American dream. Only by reviving our founding principles of individual freedom and merit-based competition can the fraught legacy of American history be redeemed, and only through freedom can we ever hope to reach equality.

©2015 Shelby Steele (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

great book!

relevant and important book. loved the story about Clarence Thomas and his own experiences! A must read in today's uncertain times.

Excellent

An amazingly insightful book. I will be listening to this again! Me. Steele has given me vocabulary for what I have been thinking for a long time.

Narrative from someone who lived it

This is an extremely informative perspective from someone who has lived the experience and gives valuable insight from a neutral or non political perspective. It explains very distinctly why we are where we are at in racial relations and how we got here.

EXCELLENT BOOK! I really wish my kids would read

Loved it! He puts into words the ideologies and thoughts I have had my entire adult life. I'm going to re-listen again tomorrow!

Amazing

WOW! Thomas Sowell now has competition for being my favorite conservative. I bookmarked so many passages in this audiobook and had to constantly pause to write things down, that's how many profound insights are found in this book. Shelby Steele has some very powerful words here, transformative if you embrace them.

terrific book. interesting perspective

I really enjoyed the book and the perspective of the author. it presents a fair representation of both viewpoints.

Educational

I had no concept of white American guilt and how it is being used
To promote destructive agendas

Stunning in its brilliance

Steele is a true master of his argument. Shame is beautifully written, profound in its insights and uncompromising honesty. Steele’s understanding and articulation of what it means to be truly free and the principles one must adhere to in order to not only maintain, but flourish as a free individual, are magnificent.
I’m 71 years old and a student of the American civil rights movement, and I have never read a book that so clearly explains American hypocrisies and the gross failures of post 1960s liberalism to overcome those hypocrisies. Bravo Shelby Steele!!

excellent understanding of the issues around race

loved each succinct argument. Now I have a better understanding and a path forward as a willing conservative.

Great!

This was an eye opening look at American culture! Mr. Steele has not only changed my perception of the cultural struggle in our own time, but of the history of these struggles.