Description: This book explores the formation of the African-American identity through the theory of cultural trauma. The trauma in question is slavery, not as an institution or as personal experience, but as collective memory--a pervasive remembrance that grounded a people's sense of itself. Ron Eyerman offers insights into the intellectual and generational conflicts of identity-formation which have a truly universal significance, and provides a new and compelling account of the birth of African-American identity.
Brief description: Ronald Eyerman is the holder of the Segerstedt Chair of Sociology, and a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioural Sciences at Stanford University (1900-2000). His recent publications include Music and Social Movements (Cambridge, 1998).
Review Quotes: "Slavery has had a significant, long-lasting effect on US history and society. Along with Elizabeth Bethel in ^The Roots of African-American Identity(1997), Eyerman clearly traces this long, sometimes agonizing, process for anyone engaged n serious work on US race relations." Choice