Rebellion or Revolution

by Harold Cruse

One of the leading writers of African American intellectual life in the second half of the twentieth century, Harold Cruse first came to international attention in 1967 with the publication of his influential and inflammatory book, The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual. This fiercely opinionated and deeply informed critique of both integrationism and black nationalism established Cruse as a bold new voice on race and resistance in America.

First published in the wake of The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual’s success, Rebellion or Revolution? collects reviews and essays Cruse wrote between 1950 and 1966, examining the relevance of such figures as James Baldwin, Booker T. Washington, Albert Camus, and Josephine Baker, as well as such subjects as Marxism and the African American community, the economics of black nationalism, and the emerging Black Power movement. Rebellion or Revolution? contains a number of significant writings not available elsewhere.

Now, with a new foreword by Cedric Johnson, this work finally emerges as both an essential document from a crucial moment in African American history and a road map to the origins and evolution of Cruse’s critical thought, asserting its importance in today’s debates on race in America.

Genres: Race, Theory, Politics

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Harold Wright Cruse was an American academic who was an outspoken social critic and teacher of African American studies at the University of Michigan until the mid-1980s. The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual (1967) is his best-known book.

Reviews

[D Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harold Cruse does a great job at offering new perspectives and linking black scholars ideas together and showing where they differ. Cruse often has very strong language and even stronger opinions, and sometimes his essays/articles read as from someone who is constantly trying to prove his ideas are radical (and his radical ideas are that most prominent black cultural leaders have not been/are not radical). But I really enjoyed his discussion of the Left and Marxist attempts at radicalizing negroes. I only wish Harold Cruse had followed through and discussed actual praxis rather than stop at a conceptual theory of developing a new theory. All in all, a good read for the political mind to challenge modern views, especially regarding nationalism, segregation, and Black Power.

[Dennis Greene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting analytical essays on the world of African American socio-politics.