OPEN MIKE: Reflections on Philosophy, Race, Sex, Culture and Religion

This is a collection of interviews with Dyson (Race Rules; Making Malcolm; etc.), the professor, public intellectual and Baptist minister, on topics ranging from homoeroticism and the Bible to jazz and hip-hop. The most prominent emphases are contemporary critical theory and religion, which don't necessarily lend themselves to improvisation. However, the format makes Dyson's reflections more inviting than they might otherwise be to casual readers. If the fresh insights are only occasional, the book is still a useful collation of many contemporary issues—though the occasional selection, like the chapter on rapper Tupac ("Searching for the Black Jesus") suffers equally from excess and partiality—Dyson's Holler if You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur has already argued the rapper's case. 12-city author tour. (Jan.)