What do you think?
Rate this book
Dark Witness
"You can find in a text whatever you bring, if you will stand between it and the mirror of your imagination. . . . Yes, take it all around, there is quite a good deal of information in the book. I regret this very much; but really it could not be helped."
--Mark Twain
Like his literary forebears--Frederick Douglass, James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, and yes, Mark Twain--Ralph Wiley has some information to purvey. The news is not always good. But with Wiley's electrifying take on subjects from the black intelligentsia to The Bell Curve to O.J., Dark Witness is certain to outrage, entertain, and ultimately enlighten.
The titles of his chapters say it all: "One Day, When I Was On Exhibit." "Why Black People Are So Stupid." "Why Niggers Steal, Are Violent, and Stay on Welfare." "Where Negroes Got All That Rhythm." "Whoopi-Do and Hughes 2." "Sin and Juice." Behind the explosive flash of these phrases simmer the intense honesty and searing self-reflection of a man burning for justice. Taking to heart Douglass's words that "it is not light that is needed, but fire...not the gentle shower, but thunder," Wiley, heir to the long tradition of "writer as activist," examines some of the most hotly debated issues of black life today and turns them inside out:
Affirmative action: "Many times, it seemed the 'worst' black candidates were chosen in hopes that they would fail. People talked about increased productivity, but often they meant in the personal sense. When others succeeded or produced, they felt lessened--it is human nature to feel this, but for a 'white' man to feel inferior to a 'black' in America causes instant insanity."
O.J. Simpson: "Now I've heard it said that The Juice, owing to his choices in women and habitat, wanted to be 'white.' A bigger crock of crap I've never heard. Juice made 'whites' feel comfortable with his kind of 'blackness.' He didn't want to be 'white.' He wanted to be privileged. And he was."
Huck Finn: "There's a Mark Twain Middle School not three miles from my base camp. An administrative aide there, a 'black' man, had wanted to delete any reference to that archaic/contemporary word 'nigger' from Twain's book--the one place where such copious use of the word in society was first best put in perspective, where it was used to describe a condition, where it reflected on the speaker, not the subject. There is not one usage of nigger in Huck Finn that I consider inauthentic and I am hard to please that way."
No one writing today has the incisiveness, the fire to dissect the world the way Ralph Wiley does. In Dark Witness he proves once again that he is one the most gifted writers chronicling life in the crucible that is late-twentieth century America.
From the Hardcover edition.
--Mark Twain
Like his literary forebears--Frederick Douglass, James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison, and yes, Mark Twain--Ralph Wiley has some information to purvey. The news is not always good. But with Wiley's electrifying take on subjects from the black intelligentsia to The Bell Curve to O.J., Dark Witness is certain to outrage, entertain, and ultimately enlighten.
The titles of his chapters say it all: "One Day, When I Was On Exhibit." "Why Black People Are So Stupid." "Why Niggers Steal, Are Violent, and Stay on Welfare." "Where Negroes Got All That Rhythm." "Whoopi-Do and Hughes 2." "Sin and Juice." Behind the explosive flash of these phrases simmer the intense honesty and searing self-reflection of a man burning for justice. Taking to heart Douglass's words that "it is not light that is needed, but fire...not the gentle shower, but thunder," Wiley, heir to the long tradition of "writer as activist," examines some of the most hotly debated issues of black life today and turns them inside out:
Affirmative action: "Many times, it seemed the 'worst' black candidates were chosen in hopes that they would fail. People talked about increased productivity, but often they meant in the personal sense. When others succeeded or produced, they felt lessened--it is human nature to feel this, but for a 'white' man to feel inferior to a 'black' in America causes instant insanity."
O.J. Simpson: "Now I've heard it said that The Juice, owing to his choices in women and habitat, wanted to be 'white.' A bigger crock of crap I've never heard. Juice made 'whites' feel comfortable with his kind of 'blackness.' He didn't want to be 'white.' He wanted to be privileged. And he was."
Huck Finn: "There's a Mark Twain Middle School not three miles from my base camp. An administrative aide there, a 'black' man, had wanted to delete any reference to that archaic/contemporary word 'nigger' from Twain's book--the one place where such copious use of the word in society was first best put in perspective, where it was used to describe a condition, where it reflected on the speaker, not the subject. There is not one usage of nigger in Huck Finn that I consider inauthentic and I am hard to please that way."
No one writing today has the incisiveness, the fire to dissect the world the way Ralph Wiley does. In Dark Witness he proves once again that he is one the most gifted writers chronicling life in the crucible that is late-twentieth century America.
From the Hardcover edition.
334 pages, Paperback
First published April 2, 1996
1 person is currently reading
50 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 29, 2018
OK, so here is me, some inconsequential white guy, reviewing a book mostly about race by a black guy who is an amazing writer. What could go wrong?
Quick aside...why aren't there more reviews of this book? There are hardly any on Goodreads or Amazon. I don't want any misstep here by me to be quite so visible. If Wiley had a fraction of the reviewers that Ta-Nehisi Coates had, I could be secure in my UN-noticablity.
Anyway, I was actually turned onto Wiley by Ta-Nehisi Coates where he quoted Wiley's response to John Updike's comment disparaging an ethic group's literary output...
Updike- “Who is the Tolstoy of the Zulus?” As if there were no reply. Tolstoy is the Tolstoy of the Zulus- - unless you find a profit in fencing off universal properties of mankind into exclusive tribal ownership. Pg 31
I saw that and HAD to read this book. There is something about it that cuts through so much bullshit. Bullshit that I feel but can't articulate.
Right off the bat Wiley hits you with his over the top love of Mark Twain. I know Twain is supposed to be phenomenal but he really make me want to dive in deep to some Twain books. His comments pointed out my superficial reading of Huckleberry Finn. In my Goodreads review I complain about what a jerk Tom Sawyer is when he basically tortures Jim before revealing Jim is legally free. But it fits into Wiley's critique about whiny liberal readers of Huck Finn
“…The reason liberal reviewers hate Tom’s reappearance is that it’s their reappearance as well – and the adult Twain’s reappearance too, for he is as much Tom as he is Huck. It is the reappearance of the adult American Consciousness. For it knows the slaves are free, in the legal sense, as in Miss Watson’s will, or the Emancipation Proclamation, or the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution; as in the eyes of God itself, without all the “legal” rigmarole. “ pg 52
There were a few rough spots for me though. I think he must like Jazz music because there were long sections where he seem to be riffin' on ideas of race, art and sports. My problem is that I have nothing against Jazz and enjoy an occasional Thelonious Monk excerpt, but I kept getting lost as the syncopated literary stream flowed by.
He was a sports writer, and whatever brain synapses are useful in appreciating sports, I was born without those circuits. I just don't get how a mind like Wiley can fall for that crap about sports teaching life lessons(my brain abnormality allows be to see the shallowness of sports). I mean, life itself teaches life lessons. The section where he is working with his son's baseball and basketball activities is completely lost on me.
There are more great sections that I would only hurt by analyzing.
There were some parts the did make me uncomfortable, especially the O.J. Simpson story. He in no way paints O.J. favorably, but in a couple of spots (very short sections) he almost seems to be blaming the victims. It feels weird. I guess I see his point, but...well it is just weird to even look in that direction.
In conclusion, when I work on what to say I see he covered a lot of territory, and man it “makes you think”.
Quick aside...why aren't there more reviews of this book? There are hardly any on Goodreads or Amazon. I don't want any misstep here by me to be quite so visible. If Wiley had a fraction of the reviewers that Ta-Nehisi Coates had, I could be secure in my UN-noticablity.
Anyway, I was actually turned onto Wiley by Ta-Nehisi Coates where he quoted Wiley's response to John Updike's comment disparaging an ethic group's literary output...
Updike- “Who is the Tolstoy of the Zulus?” As if there were no reply. Tolstoy is the Tolstoy of the Zulus- - unless you find a profit in fencing off universal properties of mankind into exclusive tribal ownership. Pg 31
I saw that and HAD to read this book. There is something about it that cuts through so much bullshit. Bullshit that I feel but can't articulate.
Right off the bat Wiley hits you with his over the top love of Mark Twain. I know Twain is supposed to be phenomenal but he really make me want to dive in deep to some Twain books. His comments pointed out my superficial reading of Huckleberry Finn. In my Goodreads review I complain about what a jerk Tom Sawyer is when he basically tortures Jim before revealing Jim is legally free. But it fits into Wiley's critique about whiny liberal readers of Huck Finn
“…The reason liberal reviewers hate Tom’s reappearance is that it’s their reappearance as well – and the adult Twain’s reappearance too, for he is as much Tom as he is Huck. It is the reappearance of the adult American Consciousness. For it knows the slaves are free, in the legal sense, as in Miss Watson’s will, or the Emancipation Proclamation, or the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution; as in the eyes of God itself, without all the “legal” rigmarole. “ pg 52
There were a few rough spots for me though. I think he must like Jazz music because there were long sections where he seem to be riffin' on ideas of race, art and sports. My problem is that I have nothing against Jazz and enjoy an occasional Thelonious Monk excerpt, but I kept getting lost as the syncopated literary stream flowed by.
He was a sports writer, and whatever brain synapses are useful in appreciating sports, I was born without those circuits. I just don't get how a mind like Wiley can fall for that crap about sports teaching life lessons(my brain abnormality allows be to see the shallowness of sports). I mean, life itself teaches life lessons. The section where he is working with his son's baseball and basketball activities is completely lost on me.
There are more great sections that I would only hurt by analyzing.
There were some parts the did make me uncomfortable, especially the O.J. Simpson story. He in no way paints O.J. favorably, but in a couple of spots (very short sections) he almost seems to be blaming the victims. It feels weird. I guess I see his point, but...well it is just weird to even look in that direction.
In conclusion, when I work on what to say I see he covered a lot of territory, and man it “makes you think”.
September 8, 2008
All of Wiley's books are good.
January 19, 2015
A fantastic book, a perfect picture of mid-90s America. Wiley's takes on Twain and OJ, in particular, are as fresh now as they were then. Indeed, I find it a huge shame that Wiley passed away ten years ago. I would love to know what he would think of Obama, Ferguson, and pretty much everything else. This book is a treasure.
September 9, 2012
Very funny, with extremely dark (pun intended) humor. The author pulls no punches, which makes it possible for him to antagonize EVERYone. No surprise that his literary hero is Mark Twain! I had to stop reading, but I'd like to finish this someday.
January 18, 2011
Not my favorite collection of Wiley essays, but it still made me miss him. No one is writing about sports and race today as thoughtfully as he did.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews