Review by Choice Review
Despite McDougall's slow start, this study is both interesting and valuable. McDougall focuses on the "vernacular," or acceptance and unique representation of a particular cultural style, in this instance, African American. Vernacular culture, which uses personal interaction, local talent and support, and the strength of community, steers a course between two historic approaches to race relations, i.e., integration and separatism, neither of which has been particularly effective. Small groups, known as base communities, form the foundation for change. McDougall finds that these base communities, working through the historic black church, as well as through other local community organizations, are attempting to overcome inconsistencies perpetrated by the civil rights revolution, which freed middle-class blacks while making the plight of the poor even worse. The vernacular has led to the creation of a new community, which is causing a renaissance in Baltimore (as well as in other places)--a positive event in the otherwise bleak urban frontier of the late 20th century. Advanced undergraduate; graduate; faculty. D. R. Jamieson; Ashland University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
