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Shame: How America's Past Sins Have Polarized Our Country

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Review

New York Times Book Review Editor's ChoiceWall Street Journal“Shelby Steele is one of the very few writers able to tell home truths about the plight of black Americans.... In Shame, an essay on the political polarization of our country and on the want of progress among black Americans, he has produced his most complex and challenging work.... The irony here is that Shelby Steele might just be a Tom of a different kind—a black Tom Paine, whose 21st-century common sense could go a long way to bringing his people out of their by now historical doldrums.”New York Times Book Review“A spirited polemic…Steele delivers this message in an ardent, readable style…Steele…speaks with passion, eloquence and unremitting honesty.”Publishers Weekly, starred review“This timely critique warrants attention from anyone troubled by the persistence of racial discord in American life, from Selma to Ferguson.”Kirkus“A conservative analysis of political polarization and race relations in America, more thoughtful and less vitriolic than most volleys from either side.”Claremont Review of Books“Steele may well have given us his most important book yet.”

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About the Author

Shelby Steele is the Robert J. and Marion E. Oster Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Winner of the Bradley Prize and a National Humanities Medal and the author of the National Book Critics Circle award-winning The Content of Our Character, Steele lives in the Central Coast of California.

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Product details

Hardcover: 208 pages

Publisher: Basic Books (February 24, 2015)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0465066976

ISBN-13: 978-0465066971

Product Dimensions:

5.5 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches

Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review:

4.6 out of 5 stars

100 customer reviews

Amazon Best Sellers Rank:

#63,264 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Steele is a favorite writer of mine, so I've been waiting for this book for some time. For those familiar with Steele, you know what to expect: a literary and theoretical reflection on the predicament of race in the United States. For better or worse - and sometimes both - Steele doesn't try to convince us as much with fact as by offering us an interpretation of the American psyche.This book, of course, is about more than the issue of race. Here, Steele tries to offer a framework for understanding the difference between the 'liberal' and 'conservative' mind. For my part, I think this is too lofty an ambition for his argument. Bu, like Steele's other works, it is challenging and thought provoking nonetheless.Steele's idea is that in the 1960's, many of the hypocrisies of the United States become laid bare: a society partly build on racism and sexism but professing to believe in equality of opportunity, that professed liberty for all but inserted itself in the affairs of other nations. In acknowledging these hypocrisies - and Steele thinks the acknowledgement was appropriate - belief in the United States and its values lost the moral authority it once had. To fill the void, that moral authority was claimed by those who challenged the values of the United States. Instead of making capitalism more just, overthrow it. Instead of civil rights movement's goal of integration into American (white) society, the Black Power movement would challenge whether that society was even worth joining.Steele does not suggest that America's loss of moral authority was wrong. But he does argue that it came with some very negative consequences, including the eschewing of freedom in favor of petitioning governments to create fairness and equity for us. Where Steele believes the proper reaction to racism and sexism was to allow oppressed groups freedom to work their way up, the new liberalism in some way chose to switch oppressors: instead of allowing blacks, women, gays, and other groups to be oppressed by discrimination, they would now be oppressed by governments who would insist that these groups couldn't do much without government help. And the tragic benefit of this new liberalism was that the former oppressors (whites, males, straights) could now atone for their sins by favoring policies like 'diversity' quotas and the like that wouldn't so much help these newly free groups, but would make everyone feel better about themselves.Two brief criticisms: first, I think Steele's thesis - that this can explain the core differences between liberals and conservatives - is probably too grand. It explains some differences, but not others. (Does it explain, for instance, why conservatives tend to be pro-life and liberals pro-choice, or the different stances on firearm regulation?) Second - and this is somewhat typical of Steele - he doesn't tend to seriously entertain counterarguments. Steele's belief in a laissez-faire conservatism - government will leave you alone, and that is enough - will be interpreted by some (generally on the left) as ignoring the reality of "structural racism." How, they will ask, do blacks and whites have equal opportunity when blacks get paid much less on average than whites, even for similar jobs, or when blacks are more likely to be arrested, injured, and even killed than whites by a difference of 8 to 1? I don't doubt that Steele could answer these questions, but he doesn't seem to seriously consider that they need addressing.All in all, though, Steele is a joy to read, and for my part, many of his interpretations of the American psyche make sense and ring true. If you haven't read him, you need to.

As a conservative libertarian (or vice versa) I have to give it to the liberals for having accomplished the extraordinary task of turning conservatism into a counterculture “movement.” This is just one of the many gems I gleaned from Shelby Steele’s new and immensely important work: Shame: How America’s Past Sins Have Polarized Our Country.I’ve always known I was unequivocally right about Americans being better off with individual liberty, which is superior to group governmental dependence—modern liberalism, even in spite of the national hypocrisy of slavery. Still, it’s a difficult issue to corral into a valid, intellectually sound context and defense. In Shame, Shelby Steele has done this. In fact, this book is written with a profound yet approachable genius that makes me feel good about myself for being able to recognize it.Although this book deserves more than a “nutshell” reduction, I hope I can do the gist of the basic ideas Steele conveyed justice—but no, not social justice. Steele explains the accomplishments of the 50s and 60s civil rights movement, which still clung to an American ideal, if not actualization, of liberty for all, which was the ultimate goal—achievable because, unlike anywhere else in human history, it had been written down in a nation’s founding documents. He defines, “Liberalism in the twenty-first century is, for the most part, a moral manipulation that exaggerates inequity and unfairness in American life in order to justify overreaching public policies and programs.”Steele writes that those disaffected, many of them young people, following the victory of the Civil Rights movement, could not see a place for them in the past or in the future. They needed to view America as “characterologically” flawed. The American character was irretrievably evil—it could not be redeemed; it had to be overthrown.The author states that liberals thought they couldn’t legitimately go back, because they had won (although many refuse to admit it) the civil rights “war,” and they didn’t want to go forward to deal with having to attempt achieving success within a context of individual liberty and without government entitlements. Therefore, the new liberals chose, “a strong sense of placelessness within the group, when both past and future seem impossible.”Modern liberals, Steele argues, hold that the evils of America’s past are permanently etched in the American character and cannot be reformed; instead; they argue for a revolution to overthrow American traditions and values.Steele recounts a 1970 visit to Africa with his wife. Searching for validation of his liberal ideals, Steele, instead, found himself beginning to look toward traditional, capitalist America as the best hope for black—for human—flourishing. While in the company of exiled American Black Panthers he befriends, and is befriended by, one of their leaders. Steele realizes that the most significant thing about his new Black Panther “friend” is the degree to which he seems to miss America—San Francisco in particular. Like the Islamists of today, the Panthers seemed to eschew a culture of whose society and technology they appreciated so much. Today, Islamists utilize all of the technology, which would not exist were it not for Western science and culture.Steele encapsulates the modern liberal’s vision of a new America, “This is a grand and amorphous vision, perhaps even a little manic. It is a liberalism that doesn’t wan the hard-earned and unglamorous fairness that struggling with demanding principles would bring. Instead, it chases utopian projections of fairness like “diversity,” “gender equality,” “sustainability,” “social justice,” “ecological balance,” and “multiculturalism”—vague projections that ring of good intentions for future at the same time that they admonish America for its past.”He talks about being booed while giving a talk simply for bringing up the notion of American Exceptionalism. So entrenched in the new lexicon of liberalism, those who booed could not conceive of a definition different from the one inculcated in them by the liberal elites. Steele argues that America being exceptional does not mean Americans, individually, are “better” than other peoples, or even that America is better than other nations. He argues that America is simple different and has more capabilities to conduct global actions due to its unrivaled success and status in the world, which necessitates it exert its influence in the world—for good—for liberty.I only found disagreement, though mild, with regard to Steele’s views of “racist” jokes. He seemed a bit temperamental or thin-skinned in his examination, although he covered it only briefly. However, my experience, even growing up very poor as a white male in a single-parent household in the late 60s early 70s is not Steele’s experience. Still, I do feel the impulse to react. I think that, in this instance, degree comes into play. While there are definitely over-the-top, brutally “racist” “jokes,” some liberals have swayed so far into political correctness that what they consider “racist,” reasonable people do not. For example, Clint Eastwood’s movie, Grand Torino, was considered quite racist by many simple because of the terms used within the movie. I, on the other hand, consider it one of the least racist movies I’ve ever seen. In fact, it is a grand lesson in tolerance and reason. Years ago a civilian administrator in the Seattle Police Department actually deemed the term, “White Out,” referring to the correction fluid product, as “racist.”When I was a kid, I grew up in a working class New England mill/farm town. The predominate ethnic groups were Irish, French and Polish (with significant German and low Italian populations). Yes, there were three separate Catholic churches in this little town. I liked to say we were three peoples separated by a common religion. I had friends from each of these other groups, some of whom I remain friends to this day, one of whom, Polish, is my son’s godfather. We often disparaged each others ethnic groups (my Polish friends absorbing the greatest brunt), but it was done with affection and humor. Today’s public school teachers would form a task force in order to deal with such blatant “racism.” However, none of us took exceptional offense; we knew it was done in good nature. We all still hung out and went to each others annual church picnics. In the end, what took primacy was that we were all unequivocally American.I convey these anecdotes not because they are directly related to Shelby Steele’s new book but to demonstrate what such a book inspires people to think about. Steele talks about how Americans used to proceed, despite other differences, upon a common premise of American “goodness.” Today, he posits, we have two competing political factions who don’t simple feel the other is wrong but is evil and needs to be eradicated.I went to a party at a firefighter friend’s place back when George Bush was still president and got a firsthand lesson in what Steele contends. The hostess was a public school teacher who had invited many of her teacher co-workers. Since my wife was the firefighter in the family, I was relegated to the spouses, of which I was the only male. Being a cop, they were asking me cop questions when the conversation turned to politics. Someone made a disparaging comment about President Bush. I simply said, “I like some of the things George Bush does.”Not that I loved him or wanted to bear his children, just that I thought he did some good things. Well, like the quintessential B-Western, barroom brawl scene, initially, you could hear a proverbial pin drop.” These teachers, all of whom were women, looked at me as if I’d grown a second head. The hostess looked at me and said, straight-faced, “Nothing George Bush has ever done has been good—nothing!” I looked at the other stern-faced, teachers, waiting for the laughter—it was not a joke.It is episodes in life such as this that makes Steele’s new book so valuable. He explains how and why liberals think the way they do and why conservatives react as they do. He demystifies the political division in the modern context and by so doing allows conservatives to assess the best ways to address the attacks made by liberals. As for the liberal, it may allow the intellectually honest of them (as Shelby Steele himself once was) to engage in critical thinking about their own commitment to modern liberalism.

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