Class Notes: Posing as Politics and Other Thoughts on the American Scene, Paperback

Hailed by Publishers Weekly for its ``forceful`` and ``bracing opinions on race and politics,`` Class Notes is critic Adolph Reed Jr.'s latest blast of clear thinking on matters of race, class, and other American dilemmas. The book begins with a consideration of the theoretical and practical strategies of the U.S. left over the last three decades: Reed argues against the solipsistic approaches of cultural or identity politics, and in favor of class-based political interpretation and action.

Class Notes moves on to tackle race relations, ethnic studies, family values, welfare reform, the so-called underclass, and black public intellectuals in essays called ``head-spinning`` and ``brilliantly executed`` by David Levering Lewis.

Adolph Reed Jr. has earned a national reputation for his controversial evaluations of American politics. These essays illustrate why people like Katha Pollitt consider Reed ``the smartest person of any race, class, or gender writing on race, class, and gender.``