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Toward Freedom

The Case Against Race Reductionism
Series: Jacobin
4.29 goodreads logo

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( 277 ratings, 35 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Toward Freedom challenges common progressive narratives that prioritise racial identity as the primary lens for understanding American history and contemporary politics. Touré Reed provides a rigorous analysis that situates racial inequalities within broader socio-economic contexts, tracing them to historical policies such as New Deal welfare programs, Cold War limitations, and Reagan-era neoliberalism. He argues that achieving justice for African Americans is inseparable from addressing the struggles of all poor and working-class Americans, advocating for a unified approach to social progress.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book will appeal to readers interested in American history, social justice, racial and class studies, and policy analysis, especially those seeking a deeper understanding of the intersections between race and class in America.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

For many progressives, racial identities are the engine of American history, and by extension, contemporary politics. They, in short, want to separate race from class. While policymakers and pundits find an almost metaphysical racism, or the survival of an ancient and primordial tribalism at the heart of American life, these inequities are better understood when traced to more comprehensible forces: to the contradictions in access to New Deal era welfare programs, to the blinders imposed by the Cold War, to Ronald Reagan’s neoliberal assault on the half-century long Keynesian consensus.

As Touré Reed argues in this rigorously constructed book, the road to a more just society for African Americans and everyone else, the fate of poor and working-class African Americans is inextricably linked to that of other poor and working-class Americans.

Toward Freedom challenges readers to reconsider the complex interplay between race and class, suggesting that truly addressing inequity involves recognising these interconnected forces.

Series: Jacobin

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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

While direct reviews of Toward Freedom are not provided, praise for Touré Reed's earlier work highlights his skill in dissecting class and ideological perspectives shaping racial uplift initiatives with nuance and depth. Critics commend his solid institutional histories and nuanced explorations of racial and class politics, suggesting rigorous scholarship and engaging narrative style.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781786634382

Publisher: Verso Books

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 25 February 2020

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Verso Books

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 15.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 210g

Pages: 224

About the Author

Touré F. Reed teaches twentieth-century US and Afro-American history at Illinois State University, and is the author of Not Alms But Opportunity: The Urban League and the Politics of Racial Uplift, 1910-1950 (UNC Press, 2008). He is a fourth generation African American educator and a third generation professor.

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