Eternally Vigilant or Black Marxism

Eternally Vigilant: Free Speech in the Modern Era

Author: Lee C Bollinger

While freedom of speech has been guaranteed us for centuries, the First Amendment as we know it today is largely a creation of the past eighty years. Eternally Vigilant brings together a group of distinguished legal scholars to reflect boldly on its past, its present shape, and what forms our understanding of it might take in the future. The result is a unique volume spanning the entire spectrum of First Amendment issues, from its philosophical underpinnings to specific issues like campaign regulation, obscenity, and the new media.
"With group efforts, such as this collection of essays, it is almost inevitable that there will be a couple—and often several—duds among the bunch, or at least a dismaying repetition of ideas. Such is not the case here. . . . Whether one agrees with a given author or not (and it is possible to do both with any of the essays), each has something to add. Overall, Eternally Vigilant is a thoughtful and thought-provoking book, consistently intelligent and, at times, brilliant."—Richard J. Mollot, New York Law Journal
Contributors:
Lillian R. BeVier
Vincent Blasi
Lee C. Bollinger
Stanley Fish
Owen M. Fiss
R. Kent Greenawalt
Richard A. Posner
Robert C. Post
Frederick Schauer
Geoffrey R. Stone
David A. Strauss
Cass R. Sunstein

New interesting book: The Best of Coffee or Pasta Verde

Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition

Author: Cedric J Robinson

In this influential work, first published in 1993, Cedric Robinson demonstrates that efforts to understand black people's history of resistance solely through the prism of Marxist theory are incomplete and inaccurate. Marxist analyses, he shows, tend to presuppose European models of history and experience that downplay the significance of black people and black communities as agents of change and resistance. Black radicalism must be linked to the traditions of Africa and the unique experiences of blacks on western continents, Robinson argues, and any analysis of African American history needs to acknowledge this.

Library Journal

Robinson rejects previous studies of black radicalism on the basis that they are founded on European history, which does not include blacks. Although he does trace European Marxism, for him the path of black resistance lies in other areas. A must-have volume for any black studies curriculum, this volume is also something public libraries will want. This edition of the 1983 original sports a new preface by Robinson. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Table of Contents:

CONTENTS
Foreword by Robin D. G. Kelley
Preface to the 1999 Edition
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction 1

Part I. The Emergence and Limitations of European Radicalism 1. Racial Capitalism: The Nonobjective Character of Capitalist Development
Europe's Formation
The First Bourgeoisie
The Modern World Bourgeoisie
The Lower Orders
The Effects of Western Civilization on Capitalism
2. The English Working Class as the Mirror of Production
Poverty and Industrial Capitalism
The Reaction of English Labor
The Colonization of Ireland
English Working-Class Consciousness and the Irish Worker
The Proletariat and the English Working Class
3. Socialist Theory and Nationalism
Socialist Thought: Negation of Feudalism or Capitalism?
From Babeuf to Marx: A Curious Historiography
Marx, Engels, and Nationalism
Marxism and Nationalism
Conclusion

Part II. The Roots of Black Radicalism 4. The Process and Consequences of Africa's Transmutation
The Diminution of the Diaspora
The Primary Colors of American Historical Thought
The Destruction of the African Past
Premodern Relations between Africa and Europe
The Mediterranean: Egypt, Greece, and Rome
The Dark Ages: Europe and Africa
Islam, Africa, and Europe
Europe and the Eastern Trade
Islam and the Making of Portugal
Islam and Eurocentrism
5. The Atlantic Slave Trade and African Labor
The Genoese Bourgeoisie and the Age of Discovery
Genoese Capital, the Atlantic, and a Legend
African Labor as Capital
The Ledgers of a World System
The Column Marked "British Capitalism"
6. The Historical Archaeology of the Black Radical Tradition
History and the Mere Slave
Reds, Whites, and Blacks
Black for Red
Black Resistance: The Sixteenth Century
Palmares and Seventeenth-Century Marronage
Black Resistance in North America
The Haitian Revolution
Black Brazil and Resistance
Resistance in the British West Indies
Africa: Revolt at the Source
7. The Nature of the Black Radical Tradition

Part III. Black Radicalism and Marxist Theory 8. The Formation of an Intelligentsia
Capitalism, Imperialism, and the Black Middle Classes
Western Civilization and the Renegade Black Intelligentsia
9. Historiography and the Black Radical Tradition
Du Bois and the Myths of National History
Du Bois and the Reconstruction of History and American Political Thought
Slavery and Capitalism
Labor, Capitalism, and Slavery
Slavery and Democracy
Reconstruction and the Black Elite
Du Bois, Marx, and Marxism
Bolshevism and American Communism
Black Nationalism
Blacks and Communism
Du Bois and Radical Theory
10. C. L. R. James and the Black Radical Tradition
Black Labor and the Black Middle Classes in Trinidad
The Black Victorian Becomes a Black Jacobin
British Socialism
Black Radicals in the Metropole
The Theory of the Black Jacobin
Coming to Terms with the Marxist Tradition
11. Richard Wright and the Critique of Class Theory
Marxist Theory and the Black Radical Intellectual
The Novel as Politics
Wright's Social Theory
Blacks as the Negation of Capitalism
The Outsider as a Critique of Christianity and Marxism
12. An Ending
Notes
Bibliography
Index
WEB REVIEWS: "Robinson demonstrates very clearly . . . the ability of the black tradition to transcend national boundaries and accommodate cultural, religious and 'racial' differences. Indeed, he shows that, in a sense, it has emerged out of the transformation of these differences."--Race and Class

"A towering achievement. There is simply nothing like it in the history of black radical thought."--Cornel West, Monthly Review AUTHOR BIO: Cedric J. Robinson is professor of black studies and professor of political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His books include The Terms of Order, Black Movements in America, and the forthcoming Anthropology of Marxism.