Finishing Race

   Hello readers, and welcome back! I have finished reading the fourth and final part of Race this week, and I'd like to share my thoughts on this last part. If you've read my previous three posts, I mention many of Aronson's strengths as a writer and many of the strengths of this particular book. I've enjoyed his attitude and writing style from the beginning because it encouraged me to think for myself about the ideas he presented, rather than trying to convince me to agree with him. I found that this made me more interested in what he had to say, and made him seem qualified to write about a topic such as race. This book has been quite pleasant in terms of organization as well; the ideas are presented in chronological order, and each new one builds off of the previous, which is especially helpful in understanding the historical connections he writes about. That being said, I'm sad to say I was quite disappointed with the end of this book. Given the strength of Aronson's arguments, his writing style, and the comprehensive organization, I was expecting a much stronger finish than what I read.

   Aronson begins by describing social differences across ancient civilizations, like the Greeks and the Sumerians, which primarily revolved around the idea of "civilized" vs. "savage". He then moves on to Rome, whose social divisions go a step further to distinguish people based on their status within the community. The birth of Christianity detailed shortly after illustrates a community wherein the only differences that matters are those "between God and humanity" (Aronson, 206). The frailty of this ideal is portrayed by the section dedicated to the Crusades. Aronson then carries the story through the Middle Ages, where new prejudices are born through ancient teachings and beliefs. Finally, we see the progression of race through early American History, as emphasized by the Enlightenment. Throughout the first three-quarters of this book, these ideas have been substantiated and their connections revealed fascinatingly. The plot as a whole has been cohesive and logical, the main ideas strong and clear. The last quarter of the book picks up in the early 1900s, where I'm sad to say Aronson had me a little confused and frustrated.

   The last few chapters start with the road to the Holocaust, which details Hitler's rise to power and the spread of extreme new racial theories. As Aronson put it, "race seemed to divide people more than ever before" (207), and Hitler took advantage of this to gain the influence that he did. I thought this was a fairly reasonable topic to approach next, but where he started to lose me was when he included a monologue of sorts (pg. 208), a reflection regarding the Holocaust. I was really surprised at how intensely opinionated, almost emotional it was. Of course, his opinion is one that many likely share, but it felt unwarranted in the context of the rest of the book. After detailing the horrors of the Holocaust, he switches gears quite rapidly to compare the fate of the Japanese Americans in the U.S. to the Holocaust victims, which did seem like a reasonable connection to make, but then he switches again to talk about Gandhi and the struggles of Indians in England. While Aronson does draw some parallels between the oppression of the latter and former groups, the connections are much looser and less thoroughly elaborated than I would have liked, and he jumps from one topic to the other quite suddenly.

   From England, Aronson jumps to the Bill of Rights and lynchings from the previous part of the book, and then to the Judgement at Nuremberg and back to Gandhi again. I did appreciate the connections between African Americans and the non-violent protesting that originated in India. Aronson did do a good job showing the influence that Gandhi and others had on the Civil Rights Movement. Summarizing the entirety of the last part of this book would be quite lengthy, so I've only provided a few specific examples of the slightly chaotic disorganization. You can rest assured that the pattern continues through to the end of the book, though. 

   For the most part, the ideas were still relevant and important parts of the story Aronson told; it was mostly the writing and organization, or lack thereof, that let me down. The very last chapter, "Black is A Way of Acting": Race Today, honestly just felt unfinished and like it didn't serve a purpose. Again, the ideas seemed scattered and loosely connected to me, and I feel like he tried to shift the focus at the last minute to discuss our present ideas of race, which I think is deserving of a separate book itself and not a measly final chapter. He does finish with a classic inspiring bit about everyone being a member of one race, the human race, but even that felt a little tacky. Others who are finishing up Race as well, feel free to let me know what you thought about these final chapters; I'm very interested to see if anyone had the same thoughts as I did. Thanks for reading!