From: African American Review | Date: June 22, 1996| Author: | COPYRIGHT 1996 African American Review. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Dana Nelson presents her important and engaging study of "race" in selected Anglo American texts as an answer to Toni Morrison's questioning of the attitude that white racism is somehow a black problem: "Why ask the victim to explain the torturer?" Nelson concludes that "Morrison might be right: Americans concerned about racism could begin by looking at the 'white' historical record on race" (vii). And this is what Nelson, "motivated by ... contemporary concerns over continuing racism" (ix), sets out to do in The Word in Black and White. She traces a history of Anglo American ...