New Black Man

Hey Mark, Michael Eric Dyson and Cornel West are Baby Boomers--you're the leading black intellectual of Generation X Let's just say that New Black Man blew my mind. It's the first book in a long time that I actually looked forward to reading every night. As an evacuee, I don't have a TV so books are a big part of my entertainment these days. I had to force myself to read only one chapter a day so I wouldn't finish too fast (I broke down at the end and read the last two chapters in one sitting--I just couldn't put it down). I think what you accomplished in this book is profound. In a witty, thought-provoking, self-revealing way you completely deconstructed the "strong black man" model of masculinity and replaced it with something far better to strive for. Any of us who grew up going to the barbershop were indoctrinated with the strong black man model. This was a positive image in some ways, but profoundly damaging in other ways that you delineated. You allowed yourself to be remarkably vulnerable; the chapter on being a nurturing father touched me. The way you talk about your family makes me want to get married and have children right away. I didn't realize the many ways a child could profoundly change a parent's life for the better if he's humble. I'm a selfish mother@#$%$ & ^ and I'm always obsessing about my work and career, but I honestly feel challenged by your book to step back, take a closer look at the decisions I'm making and re-evaluate my priorities. I'm really really glad you added that chapter (five I believe) which dealt with the complexity of being a male heterosexual feminist who maintains a deep aesthetic appreciation for our beautiful black sistahs. I've considered myself a feminist for the past few years and I've struggled with the tension between appreciation and objectification of black women. On the one hand I often chide rappers for their shameless objectification. But on the other hand I get much much pleasure seeing black women, in all their beauty and thickness, celebrated in their videos (especially with the fact that the media generally valorizes emaciated women of which I can't relate). How do I remain a feminist and still appreciate and celebrate my beautiful sistahs? This is a tension I'll struggle with for life and I'm so glad you didn't gloss over it with easy answers. I'm going on a campaign to get every black man I know to read your book. My ex-girlfriend heard me raving about it and decided to read it herself so I'll be curious to get her female perspective. I have no objective criticisms to offer you. Your last book was a classic (Songs), and New Black Man will be one I'll never forget. As a fellow black scholar, you have inspired me to be more self-reflective in my work and my next book will demonstrate your influence. Thanks for writing books that are sharp, entertaining, chastising, prophetic, highly intellectual, and thought-provoking.

FROM THE PUBLISHER "'In this book, acclaimed cultural critic Mark Anthony Neal argues that the ''Strong Black Man'' - an ideal championed by generations of African American civic leaders - may be at the heart of problems facing black men today. Despite the good intentions of its creation, he contends, this rigid model is used too often as justification for the oppression and mistreatment of black women and children. Neal urges us to imagine instead a ''New Black Man'' - a revolutionary model of black masculinity for the twenty-first century that moves beyond patriarchy to promote family, community, and diversity.' Part memoir, part manifesto, this book celebrates the black man of our times in all his vibrancy and virility. It is a tribute to a new face on the horizon of black America that is not to be missed." FROM THE CRITICS Library Journal "Who or what is the 'New Black Man'? Neal (black popular culture, Duke Univ.; Songs in the Key of Black Life) argues that, to survive, contemporary black men must disassociate themselves from the figure of the 'Strong Black Man' as designed by W.E.B. Du Bois and Frederick Douglass and instead embrace that of the New Black Man, whose strength resides in community, family, and diversity. This new model derides sexism and homophobia, which Neal argues have sprung inadvertently from the models of the past. Far from being a dull polemic, Neal's new work is sharp, provocative, and often laugh-out-loud funny in the manner of Michael Eric Dyson and Ishmael Reed (caveat: Neal's language can be rough). Taken in conjunction with Phillip Brian Harper's Are We Not Men?: Masculine Anxiety and the Problems of African-American Identity, this book is a clarion call that should be read by the entire African American community. Highly recommended for all academic and public libraries."--Anthony J. Adam, Prairie View A & M Univ. Lib., TX Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.