The Black Presidency

January 4, 2016
In insightful fashion, Dyson (Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster) looks at how President Obama has dealt with, in James Baldwin's phrase, "the burden of representation" as an African-American. He begins with the president's strained relationships with political elders such as Marcia Fudge, Emanuel Cleaver, and Maxine Waters. Dyson cites Martin Luther King Jr., Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton as inspirations for the president's "linguistic charisma" and podium skills, which reflect "the beauty and power of black rhetoric." However, Dyson roundly criticizes Obama's typically measured responses to the race-related controversies of his term, from professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s arrest in Massachusetts and the death of teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida to the riots in Ferguson, Mo., and the church murders in Charleston, S.C. At the same time, the author acknowledges that, as America's first black president, Obama faces unusually heightened expectations. He has been in a precarious position, one that Dyson examines diligently and passionately in this timely analysis. Agent: Tanya McKinnon, McKinnon McIntyre.

April 1, 2016

Using interviews with Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson along with Barack Obama himself, Dyson explores the legacy and meaning of the first black presidency. Both insightful and critical, Dyson's work analyzes how Obama publicly spoke about race in the wake of the deaths of Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner and the events that played out in Ferguson, MO, and Charleston, SC.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2015

Lauded public intellectual Dyson asks how race shapes the country's understanding of President Barack Obama's tenure. Obama was interviewed for the book.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2015

You'll know Georgetown University professor Dyson as a New York Times op-ed contributor and MSNBC political analyst, and, significantly, in 2008 he delivered a talk titled "Obama and the Presidential Election" for Harvard's prestigious W.E.B. Du Bois Lectures. Here he considers the ongoing impact of race on President Obama's identity and career, ranging from Obama's public declarations on the subject to his highlighting his own biracialism as example.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2016
Prolific author and public intellectual Dyson refreshes our memories and contextualizes Barack Obama's tumultuous presidency to show how his political ascendancy has changed what it means to be black in America. He couldn't have chosen a better lens through which to view America's race relationships than Obama, whose biracial otherness continues to be problematic for both blacks and whites. Dyson parses defining moments, including the backstory of Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the president's former pastor, and First Lady Michelle Obama's Pride-gate statement, to demonstrate the tightrope act necessary for appealing to white voters while seeking to unify the black vote. Also highlighted are acts of overt racism and disrespect no other president has had to face. Dyson contends that during the last quarter of his presidency, Obama's public statements have moved closer to his privately held beliefs and that his voice ranks among other noted black orators. By focusing on social impacts rather than legislative successes and failures, Dyson places Obama's achievements and struggles within the continuum of systematic racial injustice. A perceptive, carefully sourced, and thought-provoking inquiry.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

Starred review from December 15, 2015
An early assessment of America's first black presidency. In this rich and nuanced book, Dyson (Sociology/Georgetown Univ.; Can You Hear Me Now?: The Inspiration, Wisdom, and Insight of Michael Eric Dyson, 2009, etc.) writes with passion and understanding about Barack Obama's "sad and disappointing" performance regarding race and black concerns in his two terms in office. While race has defined his tenure, Obama has been "reluctant to take charge" and speak out candidly about the nation's racial woes, determined to remain "not a black leader but a leader who is black." Ironically, as the first black president, Obama was expected by many to offer racial insight to the country, but instead, constrained by a "toxic environment" (criticism by birthers, etc.), he has sought to "keep racial peace, often at the expense of black interests." Too often he "ignores race, denies white responsibility, or criticizes black culture." Dyson cogently examines Obama's speeches and statements on race, from his first presidential campaign through recent events--e.g., the Ferguson riots and the eulogy for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney in Charleston--noting that the president is careful not to raise the ire of whites and often chastises blacks for their moral failings. At his best, he spoke with "special urgency for black Americans" during the Ferguson crisis and was "at his blackest," breaking free of constraints, in his "Amazing Grace" Charleston eulogy. Criticized in the past by the radical Cornel West for being an Obama cheerleader, Dyson writes here as a realistic, sometimes-angry supporter of the president. He notes that adoration of Obama has prevented many blacks from holding him accountable. His discussions of key issues and controversies--from Obama's biracial identity to his relationships with older civil rights leaders--are insightful and absorbing. Dyson succeeds admirably in creating a base line for future interpretations of this historic presidency. His well-written book thoroughly illuminates the challenges facing a black man elected to govern a society that is far from post-racial.

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