Deals with the Devil

Cleage, a columnist for the Atlanta Tribune , editor of Catalyst magazine and director of a theater company, offers approximately 40 pointed, colloquial and lively essays rising from an anger that is both feminist and black nationalist. An ``outsider by choice as well as historical imperative,'' Cleage gets nervous when Bill Clinton makes her feel included and argues that America's integrationist dream is a ``perverse fantasy'' for blacks. Though she attacks Clarence Thomas as ``an enemy of our race,'' she refuses to honor Anita Hill, arguing that Hill's service to the Reagan administration marked her as a ``collaborator.'' Cleage is most forceful when she writes about race and sex. She can no longer celebrate Miles Davis when she learns he beats women, but her arguments that blacks are always right in interracial discussions of race and that ``conscious'' women are always right in discussions about sexism are certainly debatable. Other topics include Malcolm X, the film Driving Miss Daisy and Cleage's reflections on love, marriage and friends. A worthy voice. (Aug.)