Synopses & Reviews
aInsightfully argued and deeply researched, The Politics of Latino Faith offers a compelling look at one of the most important yet undervalued aspects of Hispanic life in the United States. Catherine Wilson combines vivid descriptive writing, a strong narrative voice and clear theoretical analysis to produce a valuable book.a
--Roberto Suro, author of Strangers Among Us: Latino Lives in a Changing America
There is simply much that we do not know about faith-based organizations, their nature, and how they go about providing social services. . . . This book deals directly with a topic that is virtually virgin territory. A much needed contribution.
--Stephen Monsma, author of When Sacred and Secular Mix: Religious Non-Profit Organizations and Religious Money
With the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign in full swing, many pundits and commentators are striving to understand the political behavior of Latinos--the largest minority in the United States and a key voting block that presidential candidates in this election and beyond will have to learn how to secure. As Catherine E. Wilson makes clear in The Politics of Latino Faith, not only are Latinos a religious community, but their religious institutions, in particular faith-based organizations, inform daily life and politics in Latino communities to a considerable degree.
Timely and discerning, The Politics of Latino Faith is a unique scholarly work that addresses this increasingly powerful political force. As Wilson shows, Latino religious institutions, whether congregations or faith-based organizations, have long played a significant role in the often poor and urban communities where Latinos live.
Concentrating onurban areas in the South Bronx, Philadelphia, and Chicago, she provides a systematic look at the spiritual, social, and cultural influence Latino faith-based organizations have provided in American life. Wilson offers keen insight into how pivotal religious identity is in understanding Latino social and political involvement in the United States. She also shows the importance of understanding the theological underpinnings at work in these organizations in order to predict their political influences.
Review
Insightfully argued and deeply researched, The Politics of Latino Faith offers a compelling look at one of the most important yet undervalued aspects of Hispanic life in the United States. Catherine Wilson combines vivid descriptive writing, a strong narrative voice and clear theoretical analysis to produce a valuable book.-Roberto Suro,author of Strangers Among Us: Latino Lives in a Changing America
Review
There is simply much that we do not know about faith-based organizations, their nature, and how they go about providing social services. . . . This book deals directly with a topic that is virtually virgin territory. A much needed contribution.-Stephen Monsma,author of When Sacred and Secular Mix: Religious Non-Profit Organizations and Religious Money
Review
"A pioneering work examining Latino faith-based organizations. Recommended."-Choice,
Review
“Wilson's text is a noteworthy, vital addition to research on the nexus of U.S. Latino religion and politics.”
-Journal of Church and State,
Synopsis
Pundits and commentators are constantly striving to understand the political behavior of Latinos—the largest minority in the United States and a key voting block. As Catherine E. Wilson makes clear in
The Politics of Latino Faith, not only are Latinos a religious community, but their religious institutions, in particular faith-based organizations, inform daily life and politics in Latino communities to a considerable degree.
Timely and discerning, The Politics of Latino Faith is a unique scholarly work that addresses this increasingly powerful political force. As Wilson shows, Latino religious institutions, whether congregations or faith-based organizations, have long played a significant role in the often poor and urban communities where Latinos live.
Concentrating on urban areas in the South Bronx, Philadelphia, and Chicago, she provides a systematic look at the spiritual, social, and cultural influence Latino faith-based organizations have provided in American life. Wilson offers keen insight into how pivotal religious identity is in understanding Latino social and political involvement in the United States. She also shows the importance of understanding the theological underpinnings at work in these organizations in order to predict their political influences.
Synopsis
"I welcome this new edition of Oliver Cromwell Cox's brilliant work. Published amid Cold War repression and postwar racist violence, and kept in print by Monthly Review Press since, it is as fresh and urgent as ever. It stands not only as one of the most incisive materialist analyses of race and racism but as a true classic in the sociology of race."
--Robin D. G. Kelley,New York University
First published in 1948, this pioneering work investigates how racism began and why it remains a persistent problem in the United States, tracing racial inequality to the social and economic system that generates it.
Race, the unexpurgated final section of Caste, Class, and Race, makes a touchstone work accessible to a new generation. Two major contemporary black intellectuals, Adolph Reed and Cornel West, offer commentary on the study's lasting importance.
About the Author
Oliver Cromwell Cox (1901-1974), born in Trinidad, received an M.A. in economics and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago. He taught at Wiley College, the Tuskegee Institute, Lincoln University, and Wayne State University. Cornel West teaches at the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University and is author of many books, including Race Matters (1993) and, with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., The Future of the Race (1996). Adolph Reed teaches at New School University in New York City and is author of The Jesse Jackson Phenomenon (1986) and W. E. B. Du Bois and American Political Thought (1997).