& FREE Returns

Or fastest delivery Tuesday, May 24. Order within 19 hrs 48 mins

In Stock.

As an alternative, the Kindle eBook is available now and can be read on any device with the free Kindle app.

[{"displayPrice":"$28.00","priceAmount":28.00,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"28","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"00","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"uEJs9evqBxOzBLz%2FYzBNt2ZDqztJwVT%2FuFL4keuW8UJYZLnP08zWPAXYATWjNreAUOy62WFLiIkYRy1cBR0%2FqB5AH95BkZnIO5jNRvgQ4eoJ2r%2FlaIKAtRKmiKue1q%2F4YbYrHYU2Hgw%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"},{"displayPrice":"$12.00","priceAmount":12.00,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"12","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"00","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"Kzu4bMjfmzEEESvxPPUlrikDW55UK3CQyJPdpeyD8dcOzR7d0tfW33FxWey5osYQ01W9yemGrGrFcG6r90CXvf4lHptqWWFlzuMs4RM1bN8ICGoQpSv67eFAJ8DFlwtYXhtXQ7UgRd6IJqlGhjCPndApUfGlO3fuY5GPbtUdnfhoxjsC2d1WNg%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED"}]

$$28.00 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Details

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Return policy: Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery Thursday, June 9 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon

Or fastest delivery June 1 - 3

Select delivery location

Used: Good | Details

Sold by RealisticReliance

Fulfilled by Amazon

Share <Embed>

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$19.00
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: allnewbooks

Added

Not added

$22.60
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: TheWorldShopUSA

Added

Not added

$28.00
& FREE Shipping. Details

Sold by: markable

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See this image

Follow the Authors

John McWhorter

John H. McWhorter

Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America Paperback – December 28, 2006

by John McWhorter (Author)

107 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$14.99

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$16.28

$19.98

$6.49

Paperback

"Please retry"

$28.00

$18.13

$3.83

Enhance your purchase

In his first major book on the state of black America since the New York Times bestseller Losing the Race, John McWhorter argues that a renewed commitment to achievement and integration is the only cure for the crisis in the African-American community.

Winning the Race examines the roots of the serious problems facing black Americans today—poverty, drugs, and high incarceration rates—and contends that none of the commonly accepted reasons can explain the decline of black communities since the end of segregation in the 1960s. Instead, McWhorter posits that a sense of victimhood and alienation that came to the fore during the civil rights era has persisted to the present day in black culture, even though most blacks today have never experienced the racism of the segregation era.

McWhorter traces the effects of this disempowering conception of black identity, from the validation of living permanently on welfare to gansta rap’s glorification of irresponsibility and violence as a means of “protest.” He discusses particularly specious claims of racism, attacks the destructive posturing of black leaders and the “hip-hop academics,” and laments that a successful black person must be faced with charges of “acting white.” While acknowledging that racism still exists in America today, McWhorter argues that both blacks and whites must move past blaming racism for every challenge blacks face, and outlines the steps necessary for improving the future of black America.

Print length

448 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Avery
Publication date

December 28, 2006
Reading age

18 years and up
Dimensions

5.29 x 1.2 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

9781592402700
ISBN-13

978-1592402700
See all details

Frequently bought together

+
+

Total price:

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

Choose items to buy together.

by John McWhorter Paperback
$28.00
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Get it as soon as Saturday, May 28
by John McWhorter Paperback
$11.99
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Get it as soon as Saturday, May 28
by John McWhorter Hardcover
$18.01
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Get it as soon as Saturday, May 28

John McWhorter
1,630
Hardcover
73 offers from $11.60
John McWhorter
403
Paperback
90 offers from $3.72
John McWhorter
899
Hardcover
72 offers from $6.28
John McWhorter
110
Paperback
43 offers from $10.98
John McWhorter
400
Paperback
71 offers from $3.56
Michael Shellenberger
1,210
Hardcover
in City Planning & Urban Development
30 offers from $14.28

Editorial Reviews

Review

Splendid. . . . McWhorter’s answers are anything but orthodox. . . . [He] has a keen eye for the foibles of social scientists. (The Wall Street Journal)

Provocative . . . both grounded in history and forward-looking. (Publishers Weekly)

A provocative challenge to conventional wisdom. (USA Today)

About the Author

John McWhorter is the author of the bestseller Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America, The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language, and four other books. He is associate professor of linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and a contributing editor to The City Journal and The New Republic. He has been profiled in the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and has appeared on Dateline NBC, Politically Incorrect, and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

Start reading Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1592402704
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Avery (December 28, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781592402700
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1592402700
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.29 x 1.2 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #600,472 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,148 in Black & African American History (Books)
- #3,258 in African American Demographic Studies (Books)
- #3,263 in Discrimination & Racism

Customer Reviews:
107 ratings

About the authors

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

John McWhorter
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.
John McWhorter teaches linguistics, philosophy, and music history at Columbia University, and writes for various publications on language issues and race issues such as Time, the Wall Street Journal, the Daily Beast, CNN, and the Atlantic. he told his mother he wanted to be a "book writer" when he was five, and is happy that it worked out.
See more on the author's page
John H. McWhorter
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.
Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more
See more on the author's page

Customer reviews

5 star		75%
4 star		16%
3 star		6%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Dee Dee

Enlightening

Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2020

Verified Purchase

This book is really a gift to anyone who sincerely wants to understand what is going on right now. I first encountered Dr. McWhorter through a "Great Course" on linguistics. I discovered that he had written several books on language, and to my surprise, Black culture. As a social critic, he has a non-mainstream view of the crime and social disintegration in very poor minority neighborhoods (while noting that most African-Americans do not live in such neighborhoods, having "risen" into the middle class.) I am a white Democrat, but I found his arguments convincing. This book helped me make sense of my experience as a student during the integration of my high school and neighborhood in the late 1960s, and my subsequent experience in the 80s, as a teacher in majority Black schools. As a result of reading this book, and his other book, "Authentically Black," I think about racial issues/problems differently than I used to. It was a relief to find plausible explanations for many things that did not make sense to me, such as the claim that America is as racist now as it was 50-60 years ago, and the insistence that white people cannot help but be racists. I know those two things are not true, and I honestly did not understand why so many seem to accept these claims as undeniable. This book lays out his belief that too many African Americans have sabotaged their chances of success in America by embracing an identity as "victim." He effectively analyzes the violent hip hop and drug culture. His voice will not be widely heard during these days of extensive anger over police brutality. That's too bad. His is a voice of reason and insight. It's hard to hear a critic of one's culture, but sometimes it is important to listen and consider such criticism, even if it is uncomfortable. This book had a big impact on me, and I am grateful to Dr. McWhorter for writing it.

46 people found this helpful

Helpful

Dick_Burkhart

The Case Against Blaming Racism and White Supremacy

Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2019

Verified Purchase

Professor McWhorter is a black academic and linguist, now at Columbia University, who doesn’t buy into the Racism and White Supremacy rhetoric of many activists. In fact he calls it “therapeutic alienation” when black activists try to blame their ills on “whitey”. For him the few racial incidents he has experienced are “minor irritations”, not existential threats, and he says that a majority of blacks would agree. Yet the black activists have dominated the public narrative, feeding off white guilt. This, he says, has been especially damaging to blacks in the workplace, where good social relations with whites and others are important for advancement.

This book is engaging, well-reasoned, and courageous, though somewhat verbose. As a black person he can critique other black people in ways that whites can’t, at least not without being called a racist, which is key reason he wrote the book – to promote dialogue over ideology. But it turns out he was too optimistic about the declining influence of the racist / white supremacy rhetoric. That is, he could not foresee the Financial Crash of 2008, the subsequent Great Recession, and the election of Trump, with all the stress this has put on the bottom 90% of all backgrounds. As Amy Chua says in “Political Tribes”, today “every group feels attacked, pitted against other groups not just for jobs and spoils but for the right to define the nation’s identity.” Where I live in Washington State, a measure to reinstate affirmative action was defeated a week ago by a slight margin, with Asian opposition in the lead.

In his earlier book on “Losing the Race”, McWhorter took blacks to task for “victimhood, separatism, and anti-intellectualism” after the Civil Rights era. In particular he says that affirmative action has outlived its usefulness and is discouraging blacks from competing with whites and Asians. Therapeutic alienation “provides a standing excuse for mediocrity” (p. 385). He also points out that even when Jim Crow prevailed, many cities had thriving black business districts and competitive black schools, so he asks, “Why not today?”, when even middle class blacks lag behind. And why the dysfunctional black ghetto? Thus some minorities may have voted against affirmative action in Washington State because they view it as perpetuating second class citizenship in an era when classism far outweighs racism. Meanwhile the white working class has lost so much ground economically that it also feels it has been discriminated against.

31 people found this helpful

Helpful

Kindle Customer

Not redundant, cliche-ridden, or in need of editing

Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2020

Verified Purchase

I won't reiterate the reasons I like the book, as others have done a good job of that already, as well as in summarizing the book's argument and content. In my view, Mr. McWhorter is trying the cover all the angles because he expects to be rebutted from every direction. Sure, the book makes some demands on your ability to absorb long sentences. It is also, refreshingly, written with a sense of humor.

11 people found this helpful

Helpful

Mike

An Important and Well-argued Position

Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2020

Verified Purchase

I wanted to give this book five stars, but had to knock one off for the writing style and unnecessary length of the book. That McWhorter is an academic is very clear from his sometimes overly convoluted style. However, his position is very important to understand and I think is very well argued. As others have noted, he is a Black author who can say things to Black people that white authors cannot, and does a masterful job of explaining that while the current state of Black Americans is due to the actions of whites, it whites’ misplaced benevolence is much more to blame than internalized racial animosity.

Some of the specifics of the book feel out of place in 2020, and his claim that therapeutic alienation was on its way out is seriously suspect given the current climate. However, it’s a powerful lens through which one can see current events, and I strongly recommend it for that reason alone. This is one of those rare books that I read on Kindle first and was moved to buy a hard copy.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Melanie Hudson

An epiphany for the black community

Reviewed in Canada on May 28, 2013

Verified Purchase

This book changed my entire opinion about black people and therefore my life. EVERY BLACK PERSON SHOULD READ THIS BOOK. Before I read this book, I was beginning to assume that there must be something wrong with black people. Explanations about oppression and systemic racism provided some answers, but were insufficient from my perspective. Racism matters, but individuals cannot be absolved of their personal responsibilities. This book is the middle way- it allowed me to embrace the wonderful aspects of black culture while acknowledging the poisonous, destructive elements which must be critiqued and abandoned if we are to thrive and proper as a people in the western world.

3 people found this helpful

See all reviews

Buy new: $28.00$28.00 FREE delivery: Saturday, May 28 Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com

Buy used: $12.00

Other Sellers on Amazon

Follow the Authors

Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America Paperback – December 28, 2006

Enhance your purchase

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Product details

About the authors

John McWhorter

John H. McWhorter

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Buy new:

$28.00

FREE delivery: Saturday, May 28

Ships from: Amazon.com

Sold by: Amazon.com

Buy used:

$12.00