February 28, 2006
Civil Rights and Liberalism ::
books — tagged books, civil rights, legal and social conscience
10:41 am
To me, the best book reviews are the ones that use a book as a starting-off point for a larger discussion about one of the book’s central themes. A truly great review is one that actually adds something to the book, which I wouldn’t have picked up on had I just read the book on its own. Interestingly, those reviews actually stand on their own, and are worth reading in their own right, even if I never pick up the book being discussed. Now, I don’t know if it’s an example of a great review, but yesterday I read this article on At Canaan’s Edge, Taylor Branch’s last installment of his three-part civil rights history, America During the King Years. What caught my eye about the review was how Benjamin Wallace-Wells ties the end of the King era to the problems facing Liberalism today:
King was just as right when he preached against the problems of the black slum or the repressive working conditions visited upon trash collectors as he was when he summoned a great moral awakening to confront the white Southern forces that kept blacks from voting. But the conflict between evil and good was not nearly so evident. Reading about King’s frustrated efforts, you can see where it’s headed. In hindsight, we anticipate the liberal politics that will mobilize behind the failed assumption that the country will invest in the condition of women or workers or the environment with the same moral vigor that led to the successes of King’s civil rights movements.
From my pespective, it is a rare social leader who is able to conjure up the same moral force that King was able to. Especially during this small slice of history in which I find myself. Indeed, in these times Liberals do in fact find themselves in a tough position, because they are at the same time so sure about the rightness of their position, yet have a hard time making that sense of rightness palpable to those who might not otherwise agree with them.
