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How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America | Praise
"Manning Marable examines developments in the political economy of racism
in the United States and assesses shifts in the American political terrain since
the first edition....He is one of the most widely read Black progressive authors
in the country."
—Black Employment Journal
"The reissue of Manning Marable’s How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black
America confirms that this is a classic work of political history and social
criticism. Unfortunately, Marable’s blistering insights into racial injustice
and economic inequality remain depressingly relevant. But the good news is that
Marable’s prescient analysis—and his eloquent and self-critical preface to this
new edition—will prove critical in helping us to think through and conquer the
oppressive forces that remain."
—Michael Eric Dyson, author of I May Not Get There With You: The True
Martin Luther King, Jr.
"For those of us who came of political age in the 1980s, Manning Marable’s
How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America was one of our bibles.
Published during the cold winter of Reaganism, he introduced a new generation
of Black activists/thinkers to class and gender struggles within Black communities,
the political economy of incarceration, the limitations of Black capitalism,
and the nearly forgotten vision of what a socialist future might look like.
Two decades later, Marable’s urgent and hopeful voice is as relevant as
ever."
—Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Yo’ Mama’s DisFunktional!:
Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America
"For a Latina, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America is
not only a powerful analysis of the Black experience; Marable also opens the
way to perceiving our Black-Brown commonalities. Through Marable’s eyes,
we see how Chicanos and other Latinos share so much with African Americans:
the importance of learning our true history; of seeing how our oppression began
with the violent seizure of our labor (and land, in the cases of Mexico and
Puerto Rico); the sexist oppression of women as basic; the need for decent education;
and the rise of imprisonment rates—along with internal issues like the
role of our middle class; the church; and the homophobia that dehumanizes us.
Above all, Marable helps us see how all roads point to the need for radical
action by peoples united to win a new, socialist society."
—Elizabeth Martínez, author of De Colores Means All of Us: Latina
Views for a Multi-Colored Century
"Marable
is of that unique band of African-American intellectuals whose scholarship arises
from, and has a direct bearing on, the struggles of ordinary Black people—and,
in the process, throws up the symbiosis between race and class. A new edition
of his path-breaking work, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America,
should open out these perspectives and challenges to a new generation of readers."
—A. Sivanandan, editor of Race & Class
"Following
in the footsteps of W.E.B. DuBois, Oliver C. Cox, and Walter Rodney, Manning
Marable’s How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America is a ground-breaking
study of the political economy of Black America. It has stood the test of time
and remains essential reading for a critical understanding of the interconnection
of racism and economic exploitation."
—Robert L. Allen, senior editor of The Black
Scholar
"In
How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America, Manning Marable created
a classic work that continues to stand as a seminal text for those on the Left
interested in a grounded, coherent, and insightful analysis of the struggle
for Black liberation. For example, long before other progressive activists/academics
were ready to articulate, let alone deal with, the devastating impact of patriarchy
on Black progress, Marable set forth on just such a path in the pages of this
important book. Thus, in many ways, this text is illustrative of Marable’s
own long-standing commitment to lead a progressive and revolutionary fight,
not the most popular one. In an age in which public intellectuals with little
or no connection to the lives and struggles of those they write about and supposedly
"represent" seem to dominate the scene, it is timely that How
Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America should reappear. Hopefully, this
book will remind us all of the need for serious and grounded analysis about
the condition of those most marginalized in our society. It is a must read (or re-read)
for anyone committed to the theory and practice of struggle."
—Cathy J. Cohen, Political Science and African-American
Studies, Yale University
"Professor
Manning Marable’s How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America
remains one of the most informative and insightful books for understanding historical
and contemporary relationships among race, power, and wealth in the United States.
This book reminds us that race and class divisions continue to represent a fundamental
social, economic, and political reality in this nation. Marable explains how
class interests mold racial policies and politics, but also how Black people,
and other communities of color, as well, reflect and challenge such interests.
In fact, the author shows convincingly how a Black community in alliance with
other communities and mobilized on behalf of a progressive social and economic
agenda remains a serious threat to the capitalist order in this society."
—James Jennings, Trotter Institute, University
of Massachusetts, Boston
"There
are influential books—and then there are classics. Marable’s How
Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America is a clear case of the latter.
Drawing upon the interpretive insights of Walter Rodney, the work advanced nearly
all of the central concerns of the African-American struggle for liberation
in a world that continues to be hostile and exploitative. Concise and unapologetic,
its endurance over the past two decades is a testament to its message of praxis
and freedom. South End Press has done considerable service to the progressive
community by bringing a new edition of this classic work to print."
—Lewis R. Gordon, Chair of Africana Studies and
Professor of Africana Studies, Religious Studies, and Modern Culture and Media,
Brown University
"In 1983, when How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America first
appeared, there existed a notable void in the intellectual delineation of the
deteriorating circumstances confronting millions of African Americans. The 1980
election and subsequent administration of President Ronald Reagan signaled a
national political rotation that would simultaneously attack Black progress
and celebrate capitalism. Although an earlier generation of Black scholars,
such as C.L.R. James and W.E.B. DuBois, argued that the Black condition in the
United States had to be situated always within a framework that understood and
critiqued capitalism, it was time for a new voice. Already a well-known commentator
and writer on Black life, Manning Marable’s breakthrough work launched a new
era in Black scholarship challenging Left and Black orthodoxy in both the academy
and alternative intellectual arenas. How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black
America unfolds as a coherent and comprehensive work that addresses not
only capitalism at large, but also specific dimensions of Black life, such as
sexism and patriarchy, criminal justice, poverty, religion, and education. Marable
elaborates on the contours of Black life with a scholarly vigor but in a manner
that is accessible, a feature that has continued to characterize his voluminous
body of work.… How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America stands the
test of time in many ways. Globalization has exacerbated, rather than eliminated,
all of the contradictions described by Marable’s classic text. A new edition,
which updates the tranformations that happened since 1983, yet retains the basic
sound arguments, is a welcome and pivotal literary and political event."
—Clarence Lusane, author of Race in the Global
Era
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