Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Enigma of Clarence Thomas

The Enigma of Clarence Thomas

Robin, Corey

Paperback

Biographies GeneralGeneral Political ScienceGeneral Racism & Ethnic Studies

Publisher Price: $18.00

ISBN10: 1250772915
ISBN13: 9781250772916
Publisher: Picador USA
Published: Nov 17 2020
Pages: 320
Weight: 0.75
Height: 1.00 Width: 5.80 Depth: 9.00
Language: English

The Enigma of Clarence Thomas is a groundbreaking revisionist take on the Supreme Court justice everyone knows about but no one knows.

One of the marvels of Robin's razor-sharp book is how carefully he marshals his evidence.... It isn't every day that reading about ideas can be both so gratifying and unsettling. - The New York Times

Most people can tell you two things about Clarence Thomas: Anita Hill accused him of sexual harassment, and he almost never speaks from the bench. Here are some things they don't know: Thomas is a black nationalist. In college he memorized the speeches of Malcolm X. He believes white people are incurably racist.

In the first examination of its kind, Corey Robin- one of the foremost analysts of the right (The Reactionary Mind) - delves deeply into both Thomas's biography and his jurisprudence, masterfully reading his Supreme Court opinions against the backdrop of his autobiographical and political writings and speeches. The hidden source of Thomas's conservative views, Robin shows, is a profound skepticism that racism can be overcome. Thomas is convinced that any government action on behalf of African-Americans will be tainted by racism; the most African-Americans can hope for is that white people will get out of their way.

There's a reason, Robin concludes, why liberals often complain that Thomas doesn't speak but seldom pay attention when he does. Were they to listen, they'd hear a racial pessimism that often sounds similar to their own. Cutting across the ideological spectrum, this unacknowledged consensus about the impossibility of progress is key to understanding today's political stalemate.

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