From Publishers Weekly
Prolific cultural commentator hooks (Communion) returns with another timely, provocative book on a thorny issue currently being debated in the black community. While popular books by black conservatives place the lack of significant social progress squarely on the shoulders of African-Americans, hooks cleverly repositions the argument, stating articulately that the symptoms of the stagnation (e.g., violence, self-sabotage, malaise and symbolic suicide) are old challenges only intensified by ongoing government neglect, racism, psychological trauma and patriarchy. In typical hooks fashion, she employs diverse sources to provide support for her penetrating, frank views on the troubles that often block blacks from achieving healthy self-esteem. While she admits the power of white racism has lessened, she believes the transition from rigid segregation toward full integration has resulted in crippling emotional and psychological trauma, breeding fear, paranoia, self-hatred, self-doubt and addiction as blacks try to emulate whites and compete in the workplace. Her take on how revised mental health approaches can ease some of these ills is worthwhile and informative. Despite a tendency to repeat some key points, hooks is especially effective when she addresses the devastating toll of low self-esteem and self-hate on black women and families, linking much of the damage to traditional and religious values. With each new book, hooks is deeply exploring the inner terrain of the black community, calling for a return to sound values, self-love and commonsense solutions while seeking new ways to cope with a modern world gone slightly mad. Overall, this is one of hooks's best efforts in recent years. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
This is a passionate examination of the role self-esteem plays in the lives of African Americans, who, insists cultural critic hooks (Salvation), have been unable to address this issue openly as a crisis. She shows how historical movements for racial uplift have fallen short in this area and identifies the political and cultural barriers that keep blacks from emotional well-being. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
As astute, intrepid cultural critic hooks so eloquently observes, the inner lives of African Americans have been given short shrift in the annals of psychology. Up to now, there have been no accessible studies of the traumas of slavery or integration, a necessary move toward equality that destabilized the soul-nurturing realm of black culture. These persistent wounds to the collective spirit have long occupied hooks, inspiring a series of groundbreaking books about the formidable challenges of black American life, including Salvation [BKL F 15 01]. Here hooks traces the roots of the pervasive low self-esteem, debilitating feelings of inadequacy and inferiority, that burden even the best and brightest African Americans. As she explicates the complex psychological consequences of racism and the successes and failures of the black pride movements of the past, she points the way to a future in which African Americans are able to replace "chronic emotional pain" with healthy self-esteem. So cogent is hooks' thinking, so clarifying her language, that to read her is to set out on the path toward healing. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
Publishers Weekly With each new book, hooks is deeply exploring the inner terrain of the black community....[Rock My Soul] is one of [her] best efforts in recent years.

Maya Angelou Each offering from bell hooks is a major event, she has so much to give us.


Review
Maya Angelou Each offering from bell hooks is a major event, she has so much to give us.


Review
Maya Angelou Each offering from bell hooks is a major event, she has so much to give us.


Book Description
In Rock My Soul, world-renowned scholar and visionary bell hooks takes an in-depth look at one of the most critical issues facing African Americans: a collective wounded self-esteem that has prevailed from slavery to the present day. Why do so many African Americans -- whether privileged or poor, urban or suburban, young or old -- live in a state of chronic anxiety, fear, and shame? In Rock My Soul, hooks gets to the heart and soul of the African-American identity crisis, offering critical insight and hard-won wisdom about what it takes to heal the scars of the past, promote and maintain self-esteem, and lay down the roots for a grounded community with a prosperous future.


Download Description
"World-renowned scholar and visionary bell hooks takes an in-depth look at one of the most critical issues of our time, the impact of low self-esteem on the lives of black people. Without self-esteem everyone loses his or her sense of meaning, purpose, and power. For too long, African Americans in particular have been unable to openly and honestly address the crisis of self-esteem and how it affects the way they perceive themselves and are perceived by others. In her most challenging and provocative book to date, bell hooks gives voice to what many black people have thought and felt, but seldom articulated. She offers readers a clear, passionate examination of the role self-esteem plays in the African-American experience in determining whether individuals or groups succeed or self-sabotage. She considers the reasons why even among ""the best and brightest"" students at Ivy League institutions ""there were young men and women beset by deep feelings of unworthiness, of ugliness inside and outside."" She listened to the stories of her students and her peers -- baby boomers who had excelled -- and heard the same sentiments, including deep feelings of inadequacy. With critical insight, hooks exposes the underlying truth behind the crisis: it has been extremely difficult to create a culture that promotes and sustains a healthy sense of self-esteem in African-American communities. With true brilliance, she rigorously examines and identifies the barriers -- political and cultural -- that keep African Americans from emotional well-being. She looks at historical movements as well as parenting and how we make and sustain community. She discusses the revolutionary role preventative mental health care can play in promoting and maintaining self-esteem. Blending keen intellectual insight and practical wisdom, Rock My Soul provides a blueprint for healing a people and a nation. "


About the Author
bell hooks is a distinguished professor of English, cultural critic, feminist theorist, and writer who divides her time among teaching, writing, and lecturing around the world. The bestselling author of more than twenty books, she lives in New York City.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In Rock My Soul, world-renowned scholar and visionary bell hooks takes an in-depth look at one of the most critical issues facing African Americans: a collective wounded self-esteem that has prevailed from slavery to the present day.

Why do so many African Americans -- whether privileged or poor, urban or suburban, young or old -- live in a state of chronic anxiety, fear, and shame?

In Rock My Soul, hooks gets to the heart and soul of the African-American identity crisis, offering critical insight and hard-won wisdom about what it takes to heal the scars of the past, promote and maintain self-esteem, and lay down the roots for a grounded community with a prosperous future.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Prolific cultural commentator Hooks (Communion) returns with another timely, provocative book on a thorny issue currently being debated in the black community. While popular books by black conservatives place the lack of significant social progress squarely on the shoulders of African-Americans, hooks cleverly repositions the argument, stating articulately that the symptoms of the stagnation (e.g., violence, self-sabotage, malaise and symbolic suicide) are old challenges only intensified by ongoing government neglect, racism, psychological trauma and patriarchy. In typical hooks fashion, she employs diverse sources to provide support for her penetrating, frank views on the troubles that often block blacks from achieving healthy self-esteem. While she admits the power of white racism has lessened, she believes the transition from rigid segregation toward full integration has resulted in crippling emotional and psychological trauma, breeding fear, paranoia, self-hatred, self-doubt and addiction as blacks try to emulate whites and compete in the workplace. Her take on how revised mental health approaches can ease some of these ills is worthwhile and informative. Despite a tendency to repeat some key points, hooks is especially effective when she addresses the devastating toll of low self-esteem and self-hate on black women and families, linking much of the damage to traditional and religious values. With each new book, hooks is deeply exploring the inner terrain of the black community, calling for a return to sound values, self-love and commonsense solutions while seeking new ways to cope with a modern world gone slightly mad. Overall, this is one of hooks's best efforts in recent years. (Jan. 1) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal