- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: Viking USA (April 4 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0670030430
- ISBN-13: 978-0670030439
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 14.2 x 2.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 249 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,543,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
"I write about race in hope of undermining the notion of race in America," notes Rodriguez (Hunger of Memory) in this provocative and challenging meditation on identity, racial and otherwise, in American culture. Relishing the contradictions of his own life as a "queer Catholic Indian Spaniard at home in a temperate Chinese city in a fading blond state in a post-Protestant nation," Rodriguez uses the color "brown" as a metaphor for in-between states of being ("brown bleeds through the straight line unstaunchable the line separating black from white") and as a symbol of the nonlinear and the unexpected: "all paradox is brown." Beautifully written in a literary style accessible and lyrical, this book draws upon a far-reaching range of cultural figures and artifacts e.g., Milton, James Baldwin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ralph Lauren advertisements, Leontyne Price in the opera Cleopatra, Edith Sitwell, Showboat, Carlos Fuentes, Francis Parkman's Oregon Trail to make his case that our historical and contemporary conceptualization of race is rudimentary and psychologically and culturally damaging. He isn't afraid to challenge recent left orthodoxy, finding, for example, that he "trusted white literature, because I was able to attribute universality to white literature, because it did not seem to be written for me." This book is written for anyone looking for a way out of limiting self-conceptions.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
For Rodriguez, the "browning" of America reveals a mixing of the races; hence, the "erotic" of the title. This completes a trilogy on U.S. public life begun with Hunger of Memory and Days of Obligation.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
TWO WOMEN AND A CHILD IN A GLADE BESIDE A SPRING. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
TWO WOMEN AND A CHILD IN A GLADE BESIDE A SPRING. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A thoughtful book..,
By "stickybeak2" (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Brown: The Last Discovery of America (Paperback)
When I found this book in the library I was surprised by how small it was. I'd heard of it before. It took me only about three days to get through it. It was a dreamlike essay from which I found nuggets of truth glistening here and there to pick up on and think, "oh yes, I've wondered about that myself!" I'm not sure what to think of Mr. Rodriguez but he is a very good writer. Sometimes his descriptions get sort of overdone, but mostly it's a good read. I would like to continue checking out his other books.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Where's the meat????,
By Al Ott (Morse Bluff, Nebraska USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Brown: The Last Discovery of America (Paperback)
I was excited to get this book after listening to Mr. Rodriquez on NPR. But as too often happens, the book makes most of its points by referring to people, places, literary texts, etc. that are not familiar to a normal person with a college education in something other than literature. This book was obviously written to impress ideas on the elite, whether educationally, politically, or otherwise. If you are willing to trudge through a very lyrical, almost poetic writing style, there are some very good stories and points to be made. But reading this book just wore me out. I think if only the relevent text had been printed, it would have been long enough for an editorial, not a book.
4.0 out of 5 stars
We're all Brown,
By Delancy Street Books (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Brown: The Last Discovery of America (Paperback)
As the child of a West African father and Black American mother I too am brown, although I'm black. I have often been disturbed by the American tendency to believe in absolute categories, and to assume that certain behaviors, opinions and tastes naturally accompany these categories. For them I am an anomaly, for me they are too. It is heartening to hear a voice speaking directly to America's mixed heritage and confronting her color/caste assumptions. Though Mr. Rodriguez meanders more than usual this time around, the final destination is worth it.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > African-American & Black
- Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > Hispanic & Latino
- Books > History > Americas > United States
- Books > History > United States
- Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Sociology > Race Relations
- Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Sociology > Social Groups
- Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Special Groups
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
