In essays that challenge the nature of racial discourse in America, the director of Princeton's Afro-American Studies program, calls for moral regeneration and profound social change. West identifies the valuable insights of black conservatives while taking their conclusions to pieces and sees black anti-Semitism as threatening the ethical nature of the black struggle While unsparing in his critique of black leadership and American racism, West situates the crisis in black America inside the market-driven culture, a world of ``random nows'' and the ``empty quest for pleasure, property and power''--a pervasive spiritual impoverishment that transcends race but is most devastating among the poorest, most powerless, and most despised
Aan de hand van een aantal case studies worden in deze klassieke studies de verbanden bestudeerd tussen psychische problemen en kolonialisme en slavernij, racisme in psychiatrische en psychologische theorie, de rol van religie in geestelijke gezondheidszorg en de waarde van antropologische en psychoanalytische inzichten.