Once again Derrick Bell establishes himself as one of the most powerful voices of the African-American community. He uses a series of allegorical stories and encounters with fictional characters to shed light on some of the most perplexing and vexing issues of our day. A unique blend of imagination and real experience, his stories resound with laughter, love, anger, and bitterness, but these parables carry no illusions or false hopes. The important theme of Christian love works continually to ameliorate messages of bitterness and defeat. More like a novel than the two previous books inspired by Geneva Crenshaw, Gospel Choirs nevertheless addresses important issues: contentious ones such as the controversial "Bell Curve Wars" and the media's handling of black men; at other times inspiring ones, such as the secret strength of black women and the healing role of gospel music in the black community.

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