| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 90.1

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 90.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Black Nationalism in American Politics and Thought. By Dean E. Robinson. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. x, 171 pp. Cloth, $50.00, ISBN 0-521-62326-X. Paper, $18.00, ISBN 0-521-62627-7.)

To many casual observers, black nationalism evokes images of militancy and radicalism. While there is no doubt that elements of the black nationalist tradition have embraced radical philosophies, Dean E. Robinson explains that black nationalists have more often been politically tepid than radical. In fact, black nationalist discourse has historically been shaped by the larger currents of its time. Black nationalist politics "tends to draw upon intellectual and political currents in American society and build upon them to advance the cause of Afro-Americans" (p. 88). It is in that context that black nationalism can be viewed as a malleable and fluid system of beliefs that owes much of its inspiration to the larger impulses of society. "There is no 'essential' black nationalist tradition," he explains. "Despite similarities ... the positions of nationalists of different eras have diverged because their nationalisms have been products of partly similar but largely unique eras of politics, thought, and culture" (p. 6).

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