A More Perfect Reunion, Calvin Baker
A More Perfect Reunion, Calvin Baker
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A More Perfect Reunion
Race, Integration, and the Future of America

Author: Calvin Baker

Narrator: Landon Woodson

Unabridged: 7 hr 55 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/30/2020


Synopsis

A provocative case for integration as the single most radical, discomfiting idea in America, yet the only enduring solution to the racism that threatens our democracy.

Americans have prided ourselves on how far we've come from slavery, lynching, and legal segregation-measuring ourselves by incremental progress instead of by how far we have to go. But fifty years after the last meaningful effort toward civil rights, the US remains overwhelmingly segregated and unjust. Our current solutions -- diversity, representation, and desegregation -- are not enough.

As acclaimed writer Calvin Baker argues in this bracing, necessary book, we first need to envision a society no longer defined by the structures of race in order to create one. The only meaningful remedy is integration: the full self-determination and participation of all African-Americans, and all other oppressed groups, in every facet of national life. This is the deepest threat to the racial order and the real goal of civil rights.

At once a profound, masterful reading of US history from the colonial era forward and a trenchant critique of the obstacles in our current political and cultural moment, A More Perfect Reunion is also a call to action. As Baker reminds us, we live in a revolutionary democracy. We are one of the best-positioned generations in history to finish that revolution.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Kameel on June 03, 2021

This book is a thought-provoking! It talks about the history of race and racism in the United States. Presented to us is an overview of the history of the racial state and how all of our "progress" with Civil Rights for African-Americans or the lack thereof. The book further talks about true integra......more

Goodreads review by Why-why on December 04, 2020

Woof, not good... Looking at the high reviews this book has received, perhaps this is an eye opening for people who have never thought about such things before.  I just feel there are a lot of other books out there who do a better job of it.  I am now reading The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King, f......more

Goodreads review by Kira on July 06, 2020

I found this book very compelling. Baker sees American (lack of) integration as the problem and suggests that it is preventing us from being the democracy we claim to be. The way that slavery as a topic was woven into the US founding is complex. At every moment that integration could have been achie......more

Goodreads review by Jeff on August 26, 2020

Very timely book and sadly a book that could be referenced all throughout American history. It almost felt like Mr Baker was still righting as news stories have come out. I enjoyed the focus on what is hidden underneath but all too glaringly there when race is concerned. By breaking races roll down......more

Goodreads review by Sandy on July 20, 2020

Well worth anyone’s time to read. Educational, eye opening and compelling. I still wonder, however, how we can change the systemic ills of our country when ours representatives can’t even agree on anything, however fundamental, put in front of them. My takeaway is that we can only depend on ourselve......more


Quotes

"A rich, meditative account... Baker offers a wide-ranging and erudite analysis of U.S. history, politics, and culture.... This powerful call to action resonates."—Publishers Weekly

"Scholarly yet accessible, this book is a wake-up call for a country that would rather celebrate how far we've come than focus on how far we still have to go to eradicate racism. Required reading for any American serious about dismantling systemic racism."
Kirkus (starred review)

"Contemplating social problems related to race, identity, civil rights and more, a novelist proposes that the simplest, most radical solution is the complete social integration of all minorities."—The New York Times Book Review