by David K. Shipler
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Product Description
A Country of Strangers is a magnificent exploration of the psychological landscape where blacks and whites meet. To tell the story in human rather than abstract terms, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer David K. Shipler bypasses both extremists and celebrities and takes us among ordinary Americans as they encounter one another across racial lines.
We learn how blacks and whites see each other, how they interpret each other's behavior, and how certain damaging images and assumptions seep into the actions of even the most unbiased. We penetrate into dimensions of stereotyping and discrimination that are usually invisible, and discover the unseen prejudices and privileges of white Americans, and what black Americans make of them.
We explore the competing impulses of integration and separation: the reference points by which the races navigate as they venture out and then withdraw; the biculturalism that many blacks perfect as they move back and forth between the white and black worlds, and the homesickness some blacks feel for the comfort of all-black separateness. There are portrayals of interracial families and their multiracial children--expert guides through the clashes created by racial blending in America. We see how whites and blacks each carry the burden of our history.
Black-white stereotypes are dissected: the physical bodies that we see, the mental qualities we imagine, the moral character we attribute to others and to ourselves, the violence we fear, the power we seek or are loath to relinquish.
The book makes clear that we have the ability to shape our racial landscape--to reconstruct, even if not perfectly, the texture of our relationships. There is an assessment of the complexity confronting blacks and whites alike as they struggle to recognize and define the racial motivations that may or may not be present in a thought, a word, a deed. The book does not prescribe, but it documents the silences that prevail, the listening that doesn't happen, the conversations that don't take place. It looks at relations between minorities, including blacks and Jews, and blacks and Koreans. It explores the human dimensions of affirmative action, the intricate contacts and misunderstandings across racial lines among coworkers and neighbors. It is unstinting in its criticism of our society's failure to come to grips with bigotry; but it is also, happily, crowded with black people and white people who struggle in their daily lives to do just that.
A remarkable book that will stimulate each of us to reexamine and better understand our own deepest attitudes in regard to race in America.
Amazon.com Review
David K. Shipler, a long-time reporter for the New York Times in the U.S. and overseas, calls A Country of Strangers "a journey along the color line," an attempt to trace "the landscape where blacks and whites find mutual encounters." As such, it's a journey (one that took five years) across America, listening and talking to black and white Americans about the conundrum of race. At once poignant and profound, A Country of Strangers begins with an examination of the tension between integration and segregation, continues through a look at the ways blacks and whites stereotype each other, and concludes with a section on choices--the ways in which we can reshape the racial landscape. Not everyone will agree with Shipler's optimistic conclusions, but we could do worse than to accompany him on this remarkable journey.
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Average Customer Review:
9 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
 A book for the Miseducated millions in America, 2002-04-19
David Shipler has truly unvieled truths that the educational system in America has truly miseducated millions of people on the history of Blacks. Until we accept black history wholeheartedley into American history, blacks and whites will remain forever strangers. I've read at least one third of the book and I'm truly amazed at the extensive research shipley has done. I've discovered in his book some artifacts of black history that have long since been conviently left out of America's classrooms.
The book details the stupidity of racism and what it has cost this nation. I especially enjoyed the text on President Thomas Jefferson and his intimate relationship with a black women Mary Hemmings. It's a shame that Jefferson did not take care of all the children he fathered and some of his black decendents today are still fighting for recognition. By today's standards, Jefferson would be considered a dead-beat dad. This book will shatter the clay foundation of traditional education and have you wondering why you were decieved, misinformed, and miseducated. Americal will never have a black President until the conspiracy to distort history is stopped. This book is a starting place for anyone interested in getting at the truth about blacks in America and this book is a starting place for whites to begin the search for their black relatives in their families. Until the search begins we will always remain a country of strangers enslaved by ignorance. America this bible verse is for you, You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. In this book, many interracial couples feel they are the ones who will be the best hope for Americas future because they have the best of both the black and white world.
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
 Honest look at Black-White Relations, 2002-01-10
Shipler has compiled a great deal of first person accounts and analyzed them in such a way that the reader cannot deny the truthfulness and depth of the arguments. A must read for all.
22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
The truth and more, 2000-02-23
I found David Shiplers book to be very true and to the point. Being a person of color, I already know how we (people of color) feel about race relations. I found it most helpful to see it through the eyes of a white male. I have been tempted to buy a box of this book and carry it with me to give to people. I believe everyone should read this book and debate the content. Of course, not everyone will agree, but for those who are just beginning to explore race relations, this is a great introduction and a most interesting read.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent review on race in America, 1999-08-01
Mr. Shipler does a fine job in this book at examining how race impacts numerous situations in America. He leaves out, for the most part, Hispanics, Asian-Americans, Native Americans and other groups, in his focus on white and black, and readily acknowledges this - since that division is the one most discussed, it begs the most attention. A good analysis of race in the military, in education, in the workplace, in the family, in the communities - in basically every situation - is contained within this book. Mr. Shipler writes with a journalist's style, letting the voices of many different people be heard, without imposing his own too often. Well-researched, well-written and most definitely recommended. Books on racial issues are very common, but this one seems to stand out among them in many ways.
10 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
 a troubling book, 1999-04-03
One realizes that Mr. Shipler means well, but I found this book extremely patriarchal in both content and objective. I am not a member of the white race, nor am I male, so I am not particularly charmed by Shipler's eurocentric paradigms. While some of us are challenging the racism of white people on all fronts, others, who lack both courage and conviction, are trying to find ways of blaming African-Americans for their sufferings while the white male author tries to take credit for recognizing this. Mr. Shipler would perhaps have done a better job had he been willing to take the testimony of African-Americans at face value, instead of imposing his own misgivings about his own racial narrative.
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