We Real Cool

"When women get together and talk about men, the news is almost always bad news," writes bell hooks. "If the topic gets specific and the focus is on black men, the news is even worse." In this powerful new book, bell hooks arrests our attention from the first page. Her title--WeReal Cool; her subject--the way in which both white society and weak black leaders are failing black men and youth. Her subject is taboo: "this is a culture that does not love black males:" "they are not loved by white men, white women, black women, girls or boys. And especially, black men do not love themselves. How could they? How could they be expected to love, surrounded by so much envy, desire, and hate?"

bell hooks is one of our leading social and cultural critics. Among her more than twenty books is Salvation:Black People and Love and Rock My Soul: Black People andSelf-Esteem. Four titles are published by Routledge: Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice ofFreedom, Outlaw Culture, Reel to Real, and Where WeStand: Class Matters.

1. Preface: about black men: don't believe the hype 2. chapter 1: plantation patriarchy 3. chapter 2: gangsta culture: a piece of the action 4. chapter 3: schooling black men 5. chapter 4: don't make me hurt you: black male violence 6. chapter 5: it's a dick thing: beyond sexual acting out 7. chapter 6: from angry boys to angry me 8. chapter 7: waiting for daddy to come home 9. chapter 8: doing the love do 10. chapter 9: healing the hurt 11. chapter 10: the coolness of being real