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Griffith (psychiatry and African and African American studies, Yale U.) engages in dialogue with pioneering black psychiatrist Pierce. They meld his life and career, focusing on his theories about the predictable nature of racist behavior and the responses of oppressed groups, and how his own experience with racism has affected his work. In addition to his work on racism, Pierce is known for his substantive scholarship on coping with extreme environments such as the South Pole. No index. Book News, Inc.®, Portland, OR

Edward F. Foulks, Sellars-Polchow
"There are many messages for us in this book: America as a society is still grounded in the myth of race; this social distortion of reality is a persistent, chronic illness that results in the suffering of our people; and no one is immune."

Hazel V. Carby, Department of English and African American studies, Yale University
"An important biography of a major force in American psychiatry. Ezra Griffith deftly interweaves the threads of biography and autobiography into an intriguing dialogue that charts the intellectual progress of his own life as well as the career of Chester Pierce. Written with grace and conviction, Race and Excellence is fascinating."

Alan A. Stone, past president, American Psychiatric Association
"In a racist world, African Americans always walk a tightrope. The narrowest of these strands carries the true gentleman across the pitfalls of self-indulgent black rage and self-immolating Uncle Tomness. Chester Pierce has made that difficult traverse all his life without a misstep, but his 'natural regality' would never have permitted him to tell us how he kept his balance. Fortunately, in this dialogue with his spirited young colleague Ezra Griffith, we discover how he managed this passage. There is wisdom here for people of all races about how to live both with passion and with amazing grace."

Book Description
Chester Pierce was born in 1927; by 1952 he was a graduate of the Harvard Medical School. He went on to become president of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and president of the American Orthopsychiatric Association. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences and had an annual research seminar named after him by the National Medical Association. Founding chair of the Black Psychiatrists of America, Pierce has profoundly affected American psychiatry and the thinking of African American psychiatrists during the last two decades. While recognized for his substantive scholarship on coping with extreme environments such as the South Pole, he is probably best known for his theories regarding how blacks cope with racism in the United States. In Race and Excellence, Ezra Griffith, also an African American professor of psychiatry, engages Pierce in a dialogue with the goal of clarifying the inter-connection between the personal and the professional in the lives of both black scholars. The text melds the story of Pierce's life and his achievements, with particular attention to his theories about the predictable nature of racist behavior and the responses of oppressed groups. Having earned his doctorate a generation after Pierce, Griffith approaches his conversation with Pierce as a face-to-face meeting between mentor and student. Retelling Pierce's life story ultimately becomes for Griffith an exercise in conceptualizing his own experience. As he writes, "I never just wanted to tell Chet's story; I wanted to work his story out, to measure it, to try it on, to figure out which parts are good for me and other blacks so earnestly seeking heroes."

About the Author
Ezra Griffith is professor of psychiatry and of African and African American studies at Yale University and deputy chairman for clinical affairs in the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine. He is coeditor of Racial and Ethnic Identity: Psychological Development and Creative Expression and Clinical Guidelines in Cross-Cultural Mental Health.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In Race and Excellence, Ezra Griffith, also an African American professor of psychiatry, engages Pierce in a dialogue with the goal of clarifying the interconnection between the personal and the professional in the lives of both black scholars. The text melds the story of Pierce's life and his achievements, with particular attention to his theories about the predictable nature of racist behavior and the responses of oppressed groups. Having earned his doctorate a generation after Pierce, Griffith approaches his conversation with Pierce as a face-to-face meeting between mentor and student.

FROM THE CRITICS

Journal of the American Medical Association

Griffith's effort accurately portrays the lack of organized psychoanalytic response to the question of race. Further, it identifies some potential dangers in a black person's receiving psychoanalysis from a white analyst....It should be read by all ethnic groups, as it provides invaluable instruction in the complexities of a diverse society.

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