"Cornel West is one of the most authentic, brilliant, prophetic, and healing voices in America today" —Marian Wright Edelman Nine of America's most influential artists, scholars, and public figures—Maya Angelou, Bill Bradley, Harry Belafonte, Patricia Williams, Wynton Marsalis, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, James Washington, James Forbes, and Haki Madhubuti—talk with Cornel West about their political awareness, art and politics, and the possibility of hope among African-Americans today. "This book has all the freshness, all the spontaneity of good conversations anywhere, and benefits greatly from the integrity and wisdom of its contributors." —McKay Jenkins, The Star-Ledger, Newark "This is not a book for the faint-hearted. . . . Cornel West, an authentic, brilliant and prophetic black voice, deals squarely and directly with America's problems of race, recommending changes in behavior and attitude among blacks as well as whites, prescribing solutions difficult to attain, but no more difficult than perpetuation of the status quo." —Melvyn Schreiber, County Daily News, Galveston, Texas "West manages to extract something from each [contributor]. His intellectual exuberance flavors the book, and the conversations reveal important truths about our racial impasse." —In These Times