| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 92.3

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to JAH online. About 182 words from this article are provided below; about 351 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the Organization of American Historians, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a member of the Organization of American Historians, you can:: • Join the OAH and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the Journal of American History.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two-hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Journal of American History (86.1-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Journal of American History.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 92.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Hoodlums: Black Villains and Social Bandits in American Life. By William L. Van Deburg. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. xiv, 283 pp. $29.00, ISBN 0-226-84719-5.)
In the wake of the Michael Jackson and Kobe Bryant scandals, William L. Van Deburg's Hoodlums serves as a timely and important meditation on racialized notions of villainy in American culture. This volume serves as a companion text to Van Deburg's Black Camelot: African-American Culture Heroes in Their Times, 1960–1980 (1997). While the previously published text examined the embodiment of the African American heroic, Hoodlums challenges readers to "rethink received wisdom on the nature and prevalence of black villainy" (p. xiv).	1
Hoodlums is unique in the sense that it is composed of four lengthy connecting essays that are interpretive, rather than being a traditional historical chronological progression. This gutsy approach is only attempted by a master scholar. The primary and secondary data sets in the volume are far-reaching; traditional sources such as newspapers and slave narratives are utilized but so are rap lyrics, blaxploitation films, and ghetto gothic novels.	. . .

There are about 351 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.