Maximum insight : selected columns / by Bill Maxwell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Maxwell, Bill, 1945-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Maxwell, Bill, 1945-.

African Americans--Florida--Social conditions.

African Americans.

African American journalists.

Political and social views.

Environmental conditions.

Social conditions.

Florida--Race relations.

Florida.

Race relations.

Florida--Social conditions.

Florida--Environmental conditions.

United States--Race relations.

United States.

African Americans--Social conditions--1975-.

African Americans--Social conditions.

United States--Social conditions--1980-2020.

Maxwell, Bill, 1945---Political and social views.

Maxwell, Bill.

African American journalists--Florida--Biography.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xvi, 316 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Gainesville : University Press of Florida, [2001]

Summary:

Bill Maxwell is one of the country's preeminent black journalists, with a faithful readership nationwide. This collection of his columns, primarily from the St. Petersburg Times, forms a body of commentary on humanity (and lack of same) that will capture American hearts and minds.

Maxwell covers a sweeping range of subjects, including race -- a central but not exclusive theme. He asks hard questions that courageously attempt to understand hatred and injustice in America, takes on controversial issues many columnists avoid, and scrutinizes a wide spectrum of national and international figures -- from Jeb, George W. and Clarence Thomas to the Pope and Jesse Jackson.

Maxwell writes movingly about his childhood as the son of migrant farm workers in rural Florida, his love of books -- beginning with those plucked from garbage cans -- and his everyday encounters with the white world and the black one. With a voice that is provocative and insights that are deep and passionate, he tackles the plight of migrant workers, the devastation of the environment, religious intolerance, homophobia, affirmative action, illiteracy, public education, civic responsibility, politics -- and racism. He criticizes blacks and whites alike in his search for truth and right, especially in his exploration of what he calls "resurgent bigotry and Republicanism" and "the black writer's most agonizing task -- and duty -- being dispassionate about the foibles and self-destructive behavior of African-Americans."

Setting a standard for the newspaper column as social criticism, Maximum Insight illuminates the role of the black writer as an interpreter of the forces that define a diverse America.

Contents:

Native Son 11

The Noblest Profession 46

Learning Curves 59

Living While Black 80

Where Have All the Children Gone? 101

Paradise Lost 117

Our Own Worst Enemy 139

On the Outside 167

The Fruit of Their Labor 185

Paradise Found 193

Race Matters 201

Politics: Let Us Just Tell It Straight 242

Keepers of the Flame 254

Opiate of the Masses 264

Goobers and Good Ol' Boys 286

Thank God It's Football 302.

ISBN:

0813024366

OCLC:

47136479