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 One of America’s most provocative public intellectuals, Cornel
West has been a champion for racial justice since childhood. His
writing, speaking, and teaching weave together the traditions of the
black Baptist Church, progressive politics, and jazz. The New York
Times has praised his “ferocious moral vision.”
Currently the Class of 1943 University Professor at Princeton
University, West burst onto the national scene in 1993 with his
best-selling book, Race Matters, a searing analysis of racism
in American democracy. Race Matters has become a contemporary
classic, selling more than 450,000 copies to date. In addition, West has
published 16 other books and has edited 13 texts.
West earned his bachelor’s degree from Harvard in three years, magna
cum laude. Martin Kilson, one of his professors there, describes
West as “the most intellectually aggressive and highly cerebral
student I have taught.” After earning his Ph.D. at Princeton, he
became a professor of religion and director of the Afro-American Studies
program there. West has also taught at Union Theological Seminary, Yale,
Harvard, and the University of Paris.
In his last book Democracy Matters, West analyzes the arrested
development of democracy both in America and in the crisis-ridden Middle
East. He argues that if America is to become a better steward of
democratization around the world, it must first recognize its own long
history of imperialist corruption. His latest CD, Never
Forget: A Journey of Revelations is a collection of socially
conscience music featuring collaborations with Prince, Outkast, Jill
Scott, Talib Kweli. |
