The Truth That Never Hurts: Writings on Race, Gender, and Freedom

Since the mid-1970s, Barbara Smith has been one of the United States' most productive and distinctive public intellectuals. As a critic, essayist, editor, and publisher, she has made available some incisive analyses and explorations of the paradoxes of American culture. And she has always written boldly and confidently from her own perspective as an African-American lesbian and feminist."The Truth That Never Hurts: Writings on Race, Gender, and Freedom" brings together Smith's own non-fiction prose writings from the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. In this collection we can see her development as a thinker. The pieces include her groundbreaking 1977 essay "Toward a Black Feminist Criticism," her tribute to James Baldwin, and much, much more.Smith discusses the work of such Black women writers as Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison. Particularly interesting is her exploration of the work of other Black lesbian writers like Pat Parker and Audre Lorde. She also writes about such volatile political issues as Black-Jewish relations, the Rodney King verdict, and the police brutality case involving Haitian immigrant Abner Louima. And she doesn't shy away from taking on other critics and public intellectuals. Smith doesn't discriminate on the basis of race, gender, or sexual orientation in her feisty quarrels with such figures as Darwin Turner, Elaine Showalter, and Andrew Sullivan.As I write this review, I can hear the cynics and scoffers sneering, "Hey, if she wasn't Black, gay, and female, she wouldn't have anything to write about." To such a statement I would reply: Read Smith's writings with an open yet critical mind, and with an appreciation for the historical context of each piece. I believe that she has important insights for all people, regardless of our own ethnic or sexual self-identification.In her tribute to James Baldwin, Barbara Smith writes that she loved him "because he made me want to shape prose with a clarity and fire that gave it the power to make people change." I believe that, in the course of her remarkable career, Smith has indeed changed our world for the better with her passionate writings. Read "The Truth That Never Hurts" and experience her own "clarity and fire."

I encourage everyone to read this new collection by Barbara Smith. She is one of the greatest writers of our time, and this new book will not disappoint.