Race in the Mind of America: Breaking the Vicious Circle Between Blacks and Whites

“[A] highly original and refreshingly objective new book on race relations in America…” — Tikkun
“Certain to prove controversial and thought provoking, this treatise challenges conventions on all sides and provides an intriguing analysis of black/white communications and misunderstandings on both sides.” — The Bookwatch
“Thoughtful and sophisticated reading for anyone with more than a casual interest in race.” — Kirkus Reviews
“…uniquely valuable integration of political and psychological analysis, offering fresh insights on white indifference that cut through the tangles of our national dilemma and point the way with startling honesty and directness to possible solutions. Wachtel provides sharp and subtle critiques of our thinking about the key controversies in race relations over the past decades, like the Moynihan Report and The Bell Curve. Paul Wachtel is one of our most valuable social thinkers.” — Miles Orvell, Professor of English and American Studies, Temple University, author of The Real Thing: Imitation andAuthenticity in American Culture
“To a contentious, acerbic debate Paul Wachtel brings his signature trademarks–thoughtful, reflective analysis and a hopeful path into the future. This book represents what the President’s national conversation on race might have been, had it been serious.” — Stanley Renshon, author of High Hopes
“…Paul Wachtel has written a book on race relations that will require any reader to see the issues in a new light.” — Seymour Sarason, Professor Emeritus, Yale University

Controversial new book explores how we think about race
Timely New Book Offers A New Perspective – and Concrete Solutions – to Our National Dialogue on Race

R a c e I n t h e M i n d o f A m e r i c a

Breaking the Vicious Circle Between Blacks and Whites

Paul L. Wachtel

“This book represents what the President’s national conversation on race might have been, had it been serious.” — Stanley Renshon, author of High Hopes: The Clinton Presidency and the Politics of Ambition

Paul L. Wachtel, one of the world’s most influential psychologists and widely praised for his theory of “vicious circles”, takes a penetrating look at our nation’s racial impasse and offers for the first time a set of bold and challenging solutions. RACE IN THE MIND OF AMERICA: Breaking the Vicious Circle Between Blacks and Whites (Routledge; March 30, 1999; $25.00 [$35.00 Canada]; Cloth) is both controversial and healing as it challenges the orthodoxies of the left and right, while paying careful attention to the experiences and perceptions of both sides.

Wachtel, the Director of the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies, offers fascinating insights into the ways in which psychological dynamics and larger social, political, and historical forces intersect in maintaining our society’s most intractable quandary. As he explores the ways that both blacks and whites think and talk about issues of race, Wachtel gets to the heart of the “vicious circle” that ends up perpetuating the very difficulties from which our nation wants to break. Wachtel’s analysis probes beneath the surface of our troubled relations and illuminates how blacks and whites together unwittingly participate in this dance of racial division. — more — Wachtel demonstrates that understanding this “vicious circle” is the first step toward extricating ourselves from the quicksand in which we are mired. From this point on, Wachtel tackles some major issues at the center of this topic, such as: the relationship between race and academic failure; the pros and cons of affirmative action; the role of racial stereotypes in the “vicious circle”; the racial myths of poverty and crime; and how we fail to honestly talk with each other about the issues at the heart of the nation’s racial problems. Then in a bold and highly controversial move, he introduces the new concept of racial indifference, which is often erroneously portrayed as racism, thereby confusing and exacerbating matters still further. Wachtel’s discussion of the many facets to the country’s racial divide, provides us with new ways to talk and think about the hot-button issue of race.

Clearly and elegantly written, RACE IN THE MIND OF AMERICA is sure to be as controversial as The Bell Curve (which is sharply challenges) and more relevant than other books on race, like America in Black and White. If all Americans are serious about openly discussing race and breaking from the well-worn groove in which we’ve been stuck, then we must look to Paul Wachtel’s fascinating analysis for answer.

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About the Author Paul L. Wachtel is the Acting Director of the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies at the City College of New York. He is also CUNY Distinguished Professor in the doctoral program in clinical psychology at City College and the CUNY Graduate Center. He has written widely on the topic of “Vicious Circles” and his work has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times Book Review, Tikkun, The Nation, The New Republic, The Utne Reader, and numerous psychology publications. He is the author of several books, including the highly praised The Poverty of Affluence. He lives and maintains a private practice in New York City.

Praise for RACE IN THE MIND OF AMERICA “Wachtel provides sharp and subtle critiques of our thinking about the key controversies in race relations over the past decades, like the Moynihan Report and The Bell Curve. Paul Wachtel is one of our most valuable social thinkers.” n Miles Orvell, author of The Real Thing: Imitation and Authenticity in American Culture

“Paul Wachtel has written a book on race relations that will require any reader to see the issues in a new light.” n Seymour Sarason, Professor Emeritus, Yale University

RACE IN THE MIND OF AMERICA Breaking the Vicious Circle Between Blacks and Whites Paul L. Wachtel

Routledge; March 30, 1999; 0-415-92000-0 $25.00 ($35.00 Canada); Cloth