Publisher Description

Barack Obama's inauguration as the first African American president of the United States has caused many commentators to conclude that America has entered a post racial age. The Preacher and the Politician argues otherwise, reminding us that, far from inevitable, Obama's nomination was nearly derailed by his relationship with Jeremiah Wright, the outspoken former pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ on the South Side of Chicago. The media storm surrounding Wright's sermons, the historians Clarence E. Walker and Gregory D. Smithers suggest, reveals that America's fraught racial past is very much with us, only slightly less obvious. With meticulous research and insightful analysis, Walker and Smithers take us back to the Democratic primary season of 2008, viewing the controversy surrounding Wright in the context of enduring religious, political, and racial dynamics in American history. In the process they expose how the persistence of institutional racism, and racial stereotypes, became a significant hurdle for Obama in his quest for the presidency. The authors situate Wright's preaching in African American religious traditions dating back to the eighteenth century, but they also place his sermons in a broader prophetic strain of Protestantism that transcends racial categories. This latter connection was consistently missed or ignored by pundits on the right and the left who sought to paint the story in simplistic, and racially defined, terms. Obama's connection with Wright gave rise to criticism that, according to Walker and Smithers, sits squarely in the American political tradition, where certain words are meant to incite racial fear, in the case of Obama with charges that the candidate was unpatriotic, a Marxist, a Black Nationalist, or a Muslim. Once Obama became the Democratic nominee, the day of his election still saw ballot measures rejecting affirmative action and undermining the civil rights of other groups. The Preacher and the Politician is a concise and timely study that reminds us of the need to continue to confront the legacy of racism even as we celebrate advances in racial equality and opportunity.

Author Biography

Clarence E. Walker, Professor of History at the University of California, Davis, is the author of Mongrel Nation: The America Begotten by Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings and We Can't Go Home Again: An Argument about Afrocentrism. Gregory D. Smithers, author of Science, Sexuality, and Race in the United States and Australia, 1780s-1890s, is Lecturer in American History at King's College, University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

Review

The Preacher and the Politician is a timely and provocative book. Clearly written in accessible language, it offers general readers and specialists alike a means to understand the context of the 2008 election and the pervasive complexities of America's legacy of race and racism.--Wallace Best, Princeton University, author of Passionately Human, No Less Divine

Long Description

Barack Obama's inauguration as the first African American president of the United States has caused many commentators to conclude that America has entered a postracial age. The Preacher and the Politician argues otherwise, reminding us that, far from inevitable, Obama's nomination was nearly derailed by his relationship with Jeremiah Wright, the outspoken former pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ on the South Side of Chicago. The media storm surrounding Wright's sermons, the historians Clarence E. Walker and Gregory D. Smithers suggest, reveals that America's fraught racial past is very much with us, only slightly less obvious. With meticulous research and insightful analysis, Walker and Smithers take us back to the Democratic primary season of 2008, viewing the controversy surrounding Wright in the context of enduring religious, political, and racial dynamics in American history. In the process they expose how the persistence of institutional racism, and racial stereotypes, became a significant hurdle for Obama in his quest for the presidency. The authors situate Wright's preaching in African American religious traditions dating back to the eighteenth century, but they also place his sermons in a broader prophetic strain of Protestantism that transcends racial categories. This latter connection was consistently missed or ignored by pundits on the right and the left who sought to paint the story in simplistic, and racially defined, terms. Obama's connection with Wright gave rise to criticism that, according to Walker and Smithers, sits squarely in the American political tradition, where certain words are meant to incite racial fear, in the case of Obama with charges that the candidate was unpatriotic, a Marxist, a Black Nationalist, or a Muslim. Once Obama became the Democratic nominee, the day of his election still saw ballot measures rejecting affirmative action and undermining the civil rights of other groups. The Preacher and the Politician is a concise and timely study that reminds us of the need to continue to confront the legacy of racism even as we celebrate advances in racial equality and opportunity.

Review Quote (previous edition)

" The Preacher and the Politician is a timely and provocative book. Clearly written in accessible language, it offers general readers and specialists alike a means to understand the context of the 2008 election and the pervasive complexities of America's legacy of race and racism. "--Wallace Best, Princeton University, author of author of Passionately Human, No Less Divine

Review Quote

The Preacher and the Politician is a timely and provocative book. Clearly written in accessible language, it offers general readers and specialists alike a means to understand the context of the 2008 election and the pervasive complexities of America's legacy of race and racism.

Description for Reader

Clarence E. Walker, Professor of History at the University of California, Davis, is the author of Mongrel Nation: The America Begotten by Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings and We Can't Go Home Again: An Argument about Afrocentrism. Gregory D. Smithers, author of Science, Sexuality, and Race in the United States and Australia, 1780s-1890s, is Lecturer in American History at King's College, University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

Description for Sales People

While the election of Barak Obama certainly marks a giant step forward in race relations in the U.S., the Jeremiah Wright episode--which the authors situate in a prophetic tradition going back to the Puritans--highlights the enduring realities of race in America, and just how misleading is the notion of a "post-racial" American society. I can imagine buyers saying this is old news, but the fact is that I have noticed since Obama moved into the White House a tendency in commentators to stop taking about race or to wonder what Eric Holder's problem was when he called us a nation of cowards. What Obama's election should stimulate is a more honest, intelligent discussion of the nuanced strains of race in America, and that is what Walker and Smithers deliver here.

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