Race Matters, 25th Anniversary

With a New Introduction

By: Cornel West

Narrated by: Cornel West, JD Jackson

The twenty-fifth-anniversary edition of the groundbreaking classic, with a new introduction

First published in 1993, on the one-year anniversary of the Los Angeles riots, Race Matters became a national best seller that has gone on to sell more than half a million copies. This classic treatise on race contains Dr. West’s most incisive essays on the issues relevant to black Americans, including the crisis in leadership in the Black community, Black conservatism, Black-Jewish relations, myths about Black sexuality, and the legacy of Malcolm X. The insights Dr. West brings to these complex problems remain relevant, provocative, creative, and compassionate.

In a new introduction for the twenty-fifth-anniversary edition, Dr. West argues that we are in the midst of a spiritual blackout characterized by imperial decline, racial animosity, and unchecked brutality and terror as seen in Baltimore, Ferguson, and Charlottesville. Calling for a moral and spiritual awakening, Dr. West finds hope in the collective and visionary resistance exemplified by the Movement for Black Lives, Standing Rock, and the Black freedom tradition.

Now more than ever, Race Matters is an essential book for all Americans, helping us to build a genuine multiracial democracy in the new millennium.

Critic reviews

“As moving as any of the sermons of the Rev. Martin Luther King, as profound as W. E. B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk, as exhilarating in their offering of liberation as James Baldwin’s early essays.”
—David Nicholson, Washington Post Book World

“Cornel West is one of the most authentic, brilliant, prophetic, and healing voices in America today. We ignore his truth in Race Matters at our personal and national peril.”
—Marian Wright Edelman

“Exciting . . . illuminating . . . West’s thinking consistently challenges the conventional wisdom [and] confronts the reader with profound and unsettling insights.”
—Robert S. Boynton, Newsday

“A compelling blend of philosophy, sociology and political commentary . . . It directly takes on some of the most volatile issues facing American society today. . . . One can only applaud the ferocious moral vision and astute intellect on display in these pages.”
—Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

Thoughtful and Insightful

Dr. West makes great effort to analyze and critique all areas of the political spectrum despite his liberal views. I appreciated his analysis of issues of race. Although I did not agree with all his views, he caused me to look at my understanding of race from a new angle.

my eyes & mind have been opened

what a great book! I should have read this sooner. everyone should get this book and just sit back relax as your vocabulary expanse happens and you will see the true colors of life.

Will listen to again

Definitely great book by Dr.West. Very informative and interesting. At times audio book isn’t the greatest quality but still a great book

Stefan important look at race and race relations in America

I would recommend this to every American citizen. Thoughtful, insightful, and eye opening. Dr. Cornel West could be the president to unite the country.

Timely Book

Loved the book. It’s my first time reading Cornell West and he is definitely a prolific writer.