Synopses & Reviews
One of our country's premier cultural and social critics, bell hooks has always maintained that eradicating racism and eradicating sexism must go hand in hand. But whereas many women have been recognized for their writing on gender politics, the female voice has been all but locked out of the public discourse on race.
Killing Rage speaks to this imbalance. These twenty-three essays are written from a black and feminist perspective, and they tackle the bitter difficulties of racism by envisioning a world without it. They address a spectrum of topics having to do with race and racism in the United States: psychological trauma among African Americans; friendship between black women and white women; anti-Semitism and racism; and internalized racism in movies and the media. And in the title essay, hooks writes about the killing rage — the fierce anger of black people stung by repeated instances of everyday racism — finding in that rage a healing source of love and strength and a catalyst for positive change.
Review
“An angry book that pulls no punches....Her frankness and willingness to face up to the divisive issues that refuse to go away make her a voice to be reckoned with.” The New York Review of Books
Review
“Almost everyone's assumptions about race will be challenged in this volume....Anyone who is not in denial about racism will be motivated to work for its demise after reading Killing Rage.” Emerge
Review
“Her books help us not only to decolonize our minds, souls, and bodies; on a deeper level, they touch our lives.” Cornel West
About the Author
bell hooks
is Distinguished Professor of English at City College of New York. She is the author of the memoir
Bone Black as well as eleven other books. She lives in New York City.