A lovely and deeply thoughtful work

books:

	• Alchemy of Race and Rights: Diary of a Law Professor Patricia J. Williams Harvard University Press, 1992 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 11 reviews view larger image
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Fabulous Book for the Open-Minded

This is an extraordinary book. Through the use of a wide array of reasoning and writing methods, Williams makes it possible for us to get a glimpse of the dangerous and contradictory legal world that ethnic minorities must negotiate to survive. It may be a bit of a stretch for people unaccustomed to thinking outside the box as well as those unfamilar with literature and literary theory. But the insight Williams offers is well worth the effort. It also provides members of the privileged class with the unusual & valuable experience of not being the central focus of the text. A fabulous experience for readers with an open mind!

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A lovely and deeply thoughtful work

The Alchemy of Race and Rights is a wonderful exploration of race and the law in modern society. In a whirlwind of impressionistic strokes, Williams beautifully illustrates the mutually constitutive nature of bodies and rules. Her elegant prose leads the reader to contemplate the law from a place where subject position is everything, and the false security of formal equivalence and abstract monetization are the very currency of oppression.

Though her writing style may be off-putting to those in search of a formal treatise on race and the law, and her fragmented invocation of the personal as a starting point for inductive work is sometimes difficult to follow, the impressionistic quality of the text is also one of its great strengths. In the end, a deeper meaning is conveyed through this sometimes schizophrenic free association than could be done through any more formally-structured argument.

Keep an open mind, and read everything twice. You won't regret the effort.

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passionate diatribe

There is a lot to complain about regarding race and civil rights and this author questions how far we've come.

We have NOT arrived, she reminds us.

She is a downer and does not leave much hope, yet, somehow it is energizing to read.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3

Williams enables us to see how we can unthink the process that allows racism to persist. She presents an eloquent argument for keeping rights and affirmative action in the legal vocabulary--and a powerful description of the seemingly ineluctable status of black people in the United States today.