cover image Entitled to Good Loving: Black Men and Women and the Battle for Love and Power

Entitled to Good Loving: Black Men and Women and the Battle for Love and Power

Audrey B. Chapman. Henry Holt & Company, $22.5 (206pp) ISBN 978-0-8050-2459-3

Chapman, a counselor at Howard Univ., here analyzes tensions between black men and women. While black women tend to be self-sufficient and feel overly burdened by responsibilities, according to Chapman, black men feel dominated by such strong women. Through highly personal case studies of both black men and women, the author shows that a sense of ``entitlement'' (feeling that one's partner should make up for the past) and discouragement of ``feminine'' traits in both boys and girls is deeply rooted in the psyches of black men and women, inadvertently causing them to antagonize each other. With sensitivity and wit, she suggests ways black men and women can shed their defenses and learn to trust each other again. Author tour. (Feb.)