Soul Babies

by Mark Anthony Neal

In Soul Babies, Mark Anthony Neal explains the complexities and contradictions of black life and culture after the end of the Civil Rights era. He traces the emergence of what he calls a "post-soul aesthetic," a transformation of values that marked a profound change in African American thought and experience. Lively and provocative, Soul Babies offers a valuable new way of thinking about black popular culture and the legacy of the sixties.

Genres: Music, History, Nonfiction, African American, Cultural Studies

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is kind of a fun read but it has not aged well. It’s very “get off my lawn” while also trying not to be nostalgic and pretty explicitly ends up just being Neal arguing that his generation is actually the most woke generation of Black people despite not actually offering much evidence to support his point (or at least it’s hard to accept his point when he’s comparing himself as 35 year old to these kids who are 16 and acting as if the only variable there is what music and movies they consumed). I don’t think there’s anything terribly useful to take away from this book that you don’t get from Patricia Hill Collins (except for a minor point thinking about Cosby as an actor). It’s also telling/unfortunate that Neal is so uncritical of Kelly and Cosby. Kelly he should have known better (he even acknowledges Kelly’s marriage to a 15 year old but doesn’t seem overly bothered by it) and Cosby I don’t really think he could know about the charges that would come out against him, but still it speaks to how his supposed wokeness is still a little limited.