WE HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE

2001 Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award Winners

December 10^th, 2001

"We need to deepen our understanding of the imperatives of social change," says Loretta J. Williams, Director of the Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Awards, announcing its 17th set of winners this Human Rights Day. Each award-winning book, says Williams, focuses on the complexities of building a world that works for all of us. We CAN dismantle the infrastructure of racism and oppression in general, she believes. "It will take time and intentionality; yet we can speak to possibility by our actions. Solidarity encompasses answerability as well as good intentions."

Berlet, Chip and Lyons, Matthew N.,
Right Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort
Guilford Press, 2000.

Illuminates brilliantly the persistence over time in the complexities of reactionary forces and groups in the U.S. past and present. The Comprehensive analysis, written in clear prose and content, reveals the substantive impact of these ideas and organizing on American politics and culture. The authors argue that these right wing movements channel people's fears and hopes into misguided rebellions, thus deepening oppression. Berlet, an investigative journalist, is the senior analyst at Political Research Associates, Somerville, MA. a 20 year old think tank that monitors the full spectrum of the right. Lyons is now archivist at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Iton, Richard,
Solidarity Blues: Race, Culture, and the American Left
University of North Carolina Press, 2000

Balancing well the descriptive and the theoretical, this lucid analysis of the 20th century American left shows how race and ethnic differences impacted government humanitarian and civic support in different eras. A native of Montreal, Quebec, raised in the U.S., Iton offers a progressive historiography examining the American labor movement not only via politics and policies but also through a more integrated approach taking race, ethnicity and power into account.
Iton teaches political science at the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada.

Kelley, Robin D.G. and Lewis, Earl, Editors,
To Make Our World Anew: A History of African Americans
Oxford University Press, 2000

Examining the social, cultural and political worldviews and movements of African Americans in the Diaspora, this progressive collection of essays redefines the notion of a textbook. It looks at resistance to slavery, imperialism, colonialism and capitalism. The book contains an extensive bibliography and chronology.
Kelley is Professor of History and African Studies at New York University
Lewis is Dean of the Horace Rackman School of Graduate Studies at the University of Michigan

Kumar, Amitava,
Passport Photos
University of California Press, 2000

Utilizing poetry, postcolonial and sociological theories, and photographs, this innovative book examines the shifting identities of South Asian immigrants in the United States. Organized as a passport, the book highlights the imperialist gaze imposed upon India/Indians by westerners, and encourages understanding of the multiple realities defining those labeled as the "other". A literary columnist, screenwriter and co-editor of online journal Politics and Culture, Kumar teaches in the English Department of Penn Stave University

Namaste, Viviane K.,
Invisible Lives: The Erasure of Transsexual and Transgendered People
University of Chicago Press, 2000

Using data from Project Affirmation in Ontario, this innovative sociological study makes visible the everyday lives, and subsequent erasure, of transgendered persons. Namaste holds that neither the social sciences or queer theory has adequately addressed day to day issues such as employment, health care and the like - the everyday realities transgendered persons must negotiate. Namaste is Health Services Coordinator for ASTT(e)Q, Action Sante:
Travesti (e)s et Transsexuel (le)s du Quebec, a project of CACTUS in Montreal.

Obidah, Jennifer E. and Teel, Karen Manheim,
Because of the Kids: Facing Racial and Cultural Differences in Schools
Teachers College Press, 2000

A bold true story chronicles how two public school teachers, one white with well over a decade of teaching experience, and the other African American with just a year of experience, collaborate to improve the white teacher's competency in a classroom of children of color. The white teacher, who had been successful as a teacher of white students, is experiencing difficulty. She invites the African American teacher to observe and advise on the curriculum. The African American teacher comes during the three year collaboration to see the teacher'' complicity with societally injected racism. Each recalls tensions and vulnerabilities along the way of creating a classroom where the students can success. The reader witnesses a concrete example of two people breaking through the racial/cultural barriers between them. The mentoring model proposed is applicable to all that are struggling with interracial relationships.
Obidah teaches urban schooling at UCLA. Teel currently teaches at Holy Names College.

San Juan, E., Jr.,
After Postcolonialism: Remapping Philippines-United States Confrontations
Rowan & Littlefield, 2000

In sometimes breathtaking passages, the author examines multiple aspects of how the United States overthrow of the late 1890s independent Philippine nation and subsequent domination continues to cripple the nation today. San Juan lays bare the imperial hegemony and roots of U.S. bigotry and empire. Cultural critic San Juan provocatively critiques Eurocentric universalism. He is at the front of subversive/anti-sentimentalist analysis of U.S. history. The book will be particularly welcomed by those familiar with postmodernism. San Juan directs the Philippines Cultural Studies Center at Wesleyan University.

Smith, William Jay,
The Cherokee Lottery
Curbstone Press, 2000

Uniquely written in various poetic forms, The Cherokee Lottery starkly and vividly portrays the forced removal of Indian tribes in 19th century America. One sequence eloquently speaks to the discovery of gold on Cherokee land and the subsequent lottery for whites that took away that land. This is a major work by this accomplished and noted writer. Smith is Professor Emeritus of English at Hollins College.

Weis, Lois and Fine, Michelle, Editors,
Construction Sites: Excavating Race, Class, and Gender Among Urban Youth
Teachers College Press, 2000

Deepens our understanding of the range of contexts that are meaningful to today's marginalized youth and their development of social and political identities, and, importantly, the restoration of a sense of possibility for themselves and their peers. The essays not only discuss the problems that urban youth face but also most give actual voice to the youth by incorporating quotes from their writings. Weis and Fine's collection offers a fresh approach to the struggles, resiliency and agency of diverse urban youth. Weis is Professor, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy, SUNY Buffalo. Fine is Professor, Social/Personality Psychology Program, GSUC/CUNY

Williams, Joan,
Unbending Gender: Why Family and Work Conflict and What To Do About It
Oxford University Press, 2000

Analyzes the clash of work with domesticity, the institution built of a family structure that requires one (male) ideal worker who can devote unlimited time and energy to a career while the second (female) workers provides household services. Williams argues that a discriminatory system for organizing work is the problem. She advocates reconstructive feminism which would acknowledge the economic role of the domestic workers while unlinking it from gender. Unbending Gender offers family-friendly work policies. Williams, professor of law at Washington College of Law, directs the Program on Gender, Work and Family, a research and advocacy center based at American University. It is dedicated to decreasing the economic vulnerability of parents and children by restructuring workplaces around the values people hold in family life.

The diversity of non-fiction and fiction works in the mix is intentional. So, too, the thinking outside the box. The national panelists are key to this. They live in various parts of the United States, and are involved in a variety of occupations: students, a playwright, organizers, a public defender, professors, social workers, human rights advocates, clergypersons, a park ranger, teachers and administrators, readers all. The range of ages is broad: 20s through 80s. The panelists bring a broad diversity of histories and legacies from the multitudinous peoples and countries that get condensed down into U.S. census categories: African Americans, Asian Americans, Caribbean Americans, European Americans, Latino/a Americans, Multiracial Americans, Native Americans.

The Myers reviewers give and gain much as they go about their work over the year -
thank you, thank you, thank you, reviewers!!!

Congratulations to each of the authors for their joining the Myers Circle of Winners! Thank you for stimulating in readers expanded ways that we can effectively work for social justice today.