Disintegration, Eugene Robinson
Disintegration, Eugene Robinson
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Disintegration
The Splintering of Black America

Author: Eugene Robinson

Narrator: Alan Bomar Jones

Unabridged: 7 hr 28 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 11/17/2010


Synopsis

The African American population in the United States has always been seen as a single entity: a "Black America" with unified interests and needs. In his groundbreaking book Disintegration, longtime Washington Post journalist Eugene Robinson argues that, through decades of desegregation, affirmative action, and immigration, the concept of Black America has shattered. Now, instead of one, there are four distinct groups: a Mainstream middle-class majority with a solid stake in society; a large Abandoned minority with less hope than ever of escaping poverty; a small Transcendent elite, whose enormous wealth and power make even whites genuflect; and newly Emergent groups of mixed-race individuals and recent black immigrants who question what black even means.

Using historical research, reporting, census data, and polling, Robinson shows how these groups have become so distinct that they view each other with mistrust and apprehension. And yet all are reluctant to acknowledge division. Disintegration shines light on crucial debates about affirmative action, the importance of race versus social class, and the ultimate questions of whether and in what form racism and the black community endure.

About Eugene Robinson

Eugene Robinson joined the Washington Post in 1980 and has served as London bureau chief and foreign editor. Currently, he is an associate editor and columnist. He has been a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, and he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary in 2009. The author of Coal to Cream and Last Dance in Havana, Eugene appears frequently on MSNBC as a political analyst.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Aelee on February 17, 2011

First I'd like to say IMO, the book was written well. A quick read w/o much fluff. Each detail provided insight into African American culture and self identity. Disintegration summed up in one sentence is a comparison between those that have and those that have not in the African American community. I......more

Goodreads review by Beverly on January 17, 2011

When I first started reading this book – I thought to myself – who was this book written for – thinking that most black (if not all) know we are not monolithic, and the information at the beginning of the book was something that is known, so was thinking this book was probably written for a non-blac......more

Goodreads review by John on March 10, 2023

Incredibly insightful with an intriguing conclusion. His section of “black normalcy” halfway through the book was paradigm shifting. One of those paragraphs that will forever change the way I see the world. Excellent book. I only wish the conclusion (which was thought provoking) was as nuanced as th......more

Goodreads review by Zeke on December 21, 2020

Robinson details how "Black America" is now composed of four different groups. The Abandoned (which are the generational poor), The Mainstream (your typical Black middle class), the Transcendent (the wealthy black people, from Obama to Oprah to Lebron James) and the Emergent (African immigrants and......more

Goodreads review by Robin on October 06, 2020

EXCELLENT - thought provoking read..........more