Blackwards: How Black Leadership Is Returning America to the Day of Separate but Equal

This misdirected and poorly written jeremiad attempts a bait-and-switch from the outset. Christie, a former adviser to George W. Bush and other leading Republicans, promises to demonstrate how “monolithic political, academic and cultural straitjackets have smothered diversity of thought” in a national discussion of racial issues, but wastes time and opportunity assailing affirmative action and rehashing racially charged issues from the 2008 presidential campaign. Christie claims the election of Barack Obama reveals “a new sentiment of inclusiveness in America” that allows conservatives to declare victory on questions of race and go home. His insistence on “avoiding the balkanization and recognition of citizens in America as belonging to this group or sub-group based on race and ethnicity” relies on rhetorical flourish rather than delving into the complex problems. Though he rightly tackles some of the outsized rhetoric invoked by embattled black politicians like Congressman Charles Rangel (an entrenched New York Democrat who said he preferred censure by the House Ethics Committee to lynching), he fails to offer a meaningful look at black intellectual, cultural, or business leadership, and undermines his argument by asserting that Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder are “black” leaders for addressing racial issues in a national context. Christie’s talents, wherever they may lie, should be harnessed for something other than writing books like this. Agent: William Lupfer, WME. (Sept.)