...one of the most imaginative, daring books of the 21st century ... [but] while Democracy in Black is in many ways wholly persuasive as an effortless balance of memoir, journalism and analysis, it's also conveniently clean in places where political, communal and personal messiness might advance and complicate Glaude's calls to action.
While Glaude’s advice is primarily aimed at black Americans, others may find inspiration in his call for moral movements that challenge not only racial injustice but also the loss of livable wages, the widening gap between the rich and the rest and a bankrupt political system that represents fewer of us.
A distinctly polemical work, it nonetheless offers compelling portraits of a number of African Americans. Obama is only one important figure among several in the book, but there’s no doubt about who the villain is. Glaude writes in his introduction: 'Obama reminds me of Herman Melville’s Confidence Man: he sees exactly what we want and what we fear and adjusts himself accordingly.'
