Buy new:
$29.67
FREE delivery 27 May - 3 June. Details
Usually dispatched within 4 to 5 days
$$29.67 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$29.67
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Delivery cost, delivery date and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Nimbus Retail ~
Ships from
Nimbus Retail ~
Returns
Eligible for change of mind returns within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for change of mind returns within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition within 30 days of receipt for change of mind. However, if your item is damaged or defective, you may be entitled to a remedy after 30 days. Contact the seller or visit Third-Party Seller Returns to learn more.
Read our returns policies
Returns
Eligible for change of mind returns within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition within 30 days of receipt for change of mind. However, if your item is damaged or defective, you may be entitled to a remedy after 30 days. Contact the seller or visit Third-Party Seller Returns to learn more.
Read our returns policies
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
New & Used (11) from
$22.85  FREE Delivery on first order.
Other Sellers on Amazon
Added
$22.85
FREE Delivery on first order. Details
Sold by: Amazon AU
Sold by: Amazon AU
Temporarily out of stock.
Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon as we have more information. Your account will only be charged when we ship the item.
Delivery Rates and Return policy
Added
$37.27
& FREE Delivery
Sold by: AustraliaBooks4u
Sold by: AustraliaBooks4u
(551 ratings)
68% positive over last 12 months
Usually dispatched within 3 to 4 days
Delivery Rates and Return policy
Added
$38.61
& FREE Delivery
Sold by: ShopAbroad
Sold by: ShopAbroad
(1312 ratings)
83% positive over last 12 months
Usually dispatched within 3 to 4 days
Delivery Rates and Return policy
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer—no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera, scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Eugene Robinson
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America Paperback – 4 October 2011

by Eugene Robinson (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars 217
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$29.67","priceAmount":29.67,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"29","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"67","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"slf%2BdO5vSzamSBvOejbHmkGh74LsqFDT44TIUdiUlaW5ispvrxQbpgbNS7t6yYQo8oTlceFpHTAaY%2B%2BzLURNcLdxpwqdWa0uluaz%2BMsO%2FdHFe%2FaZLfSee23dpvyuMQZHJ%2F97D%2F1agE19JdvD0oeqIw%2BpVMWv6krY0zv%2B%2B3AXA9jyP5YMfrvdlypffqcNiXb7","locale":"en-AU","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

The African American population in the United States has always been seen as a single entity: a "Black America" with unified interests and needs. In his groundbreaking book, Disintegration, Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist Eugene Robinson argues that over decades of desegregation, affirmative action, and immigration, the concept of Black America has shattered. Instead of one black America, now there are four:

- a Mainstream middle-class majority with a full ownership stake in American society;

- a large, Abandoned minority with less hope of escaping poverty and dysfunction than at any time since Reconstruction's crushing end;

- a small Transcendent elite with such enormous wealth, power, and influence that even white folks have to genuflect;

- and two newly Emergent groups--individuals of mixed-race heritage and communities of recent black immigrants--that make us wonder what "black" is even supposed to mean.

Previous page
  1. Print length
    272 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
  4. Publication date
    4 October 2011
  5. Dimensions
    13.18 x 1.88 x 20.24 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    0767929969
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0767929967
  8. See all details
Next page

Product description

Review

"A deftly written account of the fragmentation of America's black population." --Time

"[A] sober, careful and engaging consideration of phenomena that began with the official end of segregation and has of late been accelerating. . . . Those familiar with [Robinson's] style will find Disintegration the same blend of logical analysis and gentle humor that makes him sometimes appear to be the Most Reasonable Man in America." --SF Gate

"[A] bold call to action . . . [Disintegration] makes clear that Robinson's success, and the success of his fellow black fortunates, simply do not negate the problems of the other 30% of blacks who continue to struggle at the bottom." --Los Angeles Times

"The text would be useful as a young person's introduction to Race in America 101." --The New Republic

"Readers don't have to agree with Robinson's observations to appreciate the undeniable differences within black America and to maybe want further analysis." --Booklist

"In this clear-eyed and compassionate study, Robinson . . . marshals persuasive evidence that the African-American population has splintered into four distinct and increasingly disconnected entities. . . . Of particular interest is the discussion of how immigrants from Africa, the 'best-educated group coming to live in the United States, ' are changing what being black means." --Publishers Weekly

"In Disintegration, Eugene Robinson neatly explodes decades' worth of lazy generalizations about race in America. At the same time, he raises new questions about community, invisibility, and the virtues and drawbacks of assimilation. An important book." --Gwen Ifill

"Gene Robinson's Disintegration is the first popular salvo in the Age of Obama regarding the delicate issues of class division, generation gap, and elite obsession in Black America. This painful conversation must continue--and we have Gene Robinson as a useful guide." --Cornel West

About the Author

EUGENE ROBINSON joined the Washington Post in 1980, where he has served as London bureau chief, foreign editor, and, currently, associate editor and columnist. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, and in 2009, Robinson was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary. Disintegration is his third book.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group; Reprint edition (4 October 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0767929969
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0767929967
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.18 x 1.88 x 20.24 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 out of 5 stars 217

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Eugene Robinson

Eugene Robinson

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs, and more

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
217 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from Australia

There are 0 reviews and 0 ratings from Australia

Top reviews from other countries

etna r.
5.0 out of 5 stars delivered as promised
Reviewed in the United States on 1 March 2024
Verified Purchase
I wanted this book for my continung education about race relations in this country. I am a black female widow 85 years of age and still learning that race relations in the United States is seriously lacking and continues to be a blot on our country as we allow basic general education and specific to race education to go on being ignored and eliminated in our schools. We choose to deny that racism exists and pretend that the problem is not caused by white privilege primarily! Whites continue to do those things that "divide and conquer" and continue to create a climate that makes us do some of their intended work of elminating us all together. God have mercy on us all!
Report
John M. Ford
5.0 out of 5 stars Four from One
Reviewed in the United States on 16 May 2013
Verified Purchase
Eugene Robinson has studied our misconceptions about African American demographics and is concerned about the flawed public policy that may result from them. Robinson classifies African Americans into four groups. His book describes each of these groups and explores the implications of this view of what was once a single, unified community.

The MAINSTREAM middle-class majority has a "full ownership stake" in American society. Many live in suburban neighborhoods, attend college, and hold professional and managerial jobs. Parents watch their children mixing unselfconsciously with whites and are proud of how much has changed. But this also "...sets up a conflict between two strongly held Mainstream values--on one side an absolute belief in Dr. King's dream that all be judged solely by the content of their character, on the other a fierce determination that African American history and culture be not only revered but also perpetuated."

The ABANDONED is a large, ghetto-bound minority with "...less hope of escaping poverty and dysfunction than at any time since Reconstruction's crushing end." They face numerous problems including unemployment, crime, failing schools, and family breakdown. Before civil rights reforms freed the Mainstream to move elsewhere, the American-African community was geographically and socially integrated. Doctors and lawyers lived next to janitors and the unemployed. Poorer members of this community benefitted from assistance, inspiration, and role models. Now the Abandoned are left to themselves, unseen and unwanted. Racial segregation has been replaced by economic segregation.

The TRANSCENDENT are an elite minority with money, power, and influence. This group includes Oprah, Obama, and other celebrities in the highest circles. Many Trancenents pursue social, political, and business projects designed to benefit other African-Americans. Many such efforts benefit the Mainstream far more than the Abandoned, falling short of their desired impact. Many of the older members of this group struggled against stronger barriers to success than remain today. Some find it difficult to step away from their "outsider" roles of the past.

EMERGENTS fall into one of two groups. Recently-arrived immigrants and people of mixed-race heritage. Immigrants tend to be highly educated and follow a path of self-improvement similar to white and Asian immigrants. Family loyalty, a strong work ethic, and less personal experience with America's race conflicts all enhance their chances for success. Emergents of mixed race experience resentment from the other groups and uncertainty about how they fit in to any of the groups they can claim as their own.

Robinson describes patterns of conflict between these groups. "The Mainstream tend to doubt the authenticity of the Emergent, but they're usually too polite, or too politically correct, to say so out loud. The Abandoned accuse the Emergent--the immigrant segment, at least--of moving into Abandoned neighborhoods and using the locals as mere stepping-stones. The immigrant Emergent, with their intact families and long-range mind-set, ridicule the Abandoned for being their own worst enemies. The Mainstream bemoan the plight of the Abandoned--but express their deep concern from a distance. The Transcendent, to steal the old line about Boston society, speak only to God; they are idolized by the Mainstream and the Emergent for the obstacles they have overcome, and by the Abandoned for the shiny things they own. Mainstream, Emergent, and Transcendent all lock their car doors when they drive through an Abandoned neighborhood. They think the Abandoned don't hear the disrespectful thunk of the locks; they're wrong."

The author closes with several strong recommendations. Uplifting the Abandoned should become a national priority. He applauds President Obama's agenda to target all of the poor, knowing that this will help African Americans the most because there are so many among the poor. But he calls for additional efforts that target the Abandoned. He cautions the Trancendents and the Mainstream that they must give up programs for all African Americans that dilute resources desperately needed by the Abandoned. Robinson also cautions against measuring progress based on statistics that summarize the jobs and resources of all four groups without distinction. Such measures underrepresent the achievements of the Mainstream and mask the needs of the Abandoned.

This is an excellent and informative book which I highly recommend. It offers needed perspective on the status of African Americans and avoids the oversimplification of placing them in a single demographic category.
16 people found this helpful
 Report
Eddie Hutchinson
4.0 out of 5 stars "Who we are depends on who we believe we are." - Chpt. 7
Reviewed in the United States on 30 October 2010
Verified Purchase
In his book, Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Eugene Robinson, proposes that the once monolithic Black America has been fractionalized into four distinct groups:

1) The Abandoned. These are the marginalized, the poor, the working poor and the disenfranchised; think those trapped on rooftops during Hurricane Katrina. These are the Black Americans who are stuck in a generational cycle of welfare, teen pregnancy, and lackluster public education; they live in urban dwellings and rely on public transportation.

2) The Mainstream. Once known as the Middle Class is now an ever-growing body of Black Americans. Those Abandoned fortunate enough to break the cycle have launched themselves into this group.

3) Transcendent Elite. Those with the resources (money or power) to command. Those who have seemingly launched into the stratosphere of Black America; think Oprah, Obama, Will Smith, Bob & Shelia Johnson, a select few African American CEOs, etc....

4) Emergent. The newest and fastest growing of the four groups, consisting of two sub-groups: bi-racial and Black immigrants. Both labeled as Black by default.

Robinson recalls that during the Civil Rights era that Black Americans marched as one because Black Americans were oppressed as one. In the 21st Century, it is clear, for example, that Mainstream Black America marches to a different drum beat, while the drums of the Abandoned go unheard. Since one can no longer depict and address Black America as one in solidarity, Robinson sets aside Chapter 9, Urgency, Focus, and Sacrifice, to offer some advice on moving forward.
11 people found this helpful
 Report
Herbert Gintis
5.0 out of 5 stars A Useful and Plausible Gestalt Shift
Reviewed in the United States on 9 January 2011
Verified Purchase
If you have never read or thought much about the issue of race in America, this is a very important book to read cover to cover. If you have thought and read a lot about the subject, the first chapter is all you need to get the idea Robinson is trying to get across. His partition of the African-American community into four groups (really five, but that's quibbling a bit) with very different life-chances and outlooks is an extremely plausible gestalt shift. Robinson is big on anecdote and short on statistics and demographics, but I suspect his argument will hold up today, and (lamentably) for the foreseeable future.

I say lamentably because the isolation of one of these groups, the Abandoned Blacks of the inner cities, is a horror that I had hoped never to see occur, however much it redounds to the more successful parts of the American black community. I lay the blame for the persistence of black inner-city poverty to the strategy of black political activists over the past forty years, whom I describe as "professional beggars," ignoring the disintegration of the inner-city black community while demanding handouts by playing on white guilt. I don't consider this generation of black politicians and activists to be at all disingenuous or immoral, but their strategies have been profoundly destructive to the Abandoned Blacks. A profound cultural revival is needed in the inner cities.

Robinson, curiously enough, given his iconoclastic world-view, does not distinguish between the economic and cultural conditions of inner-city males on the one hand and their female counterparts on the other. It is the males who end up in jail and on the streets, and who neglect their offspring, whereas their wives and girl friends struggle with work and child-rearing outside the framework of the traditional two-parent family.

People often ask me if I am a conservative because they see me proposing self-help for minority communities rather than the dole. I say I am not, because I believe we must all help our downtrodden move their way into the good life America provides to so many others. Nor am I a liberal, because I see liberals as having sacrificed the needs of the Abandoned inner-city black in favor the (perceived) needs of the "middle class," in particular of redistribution from the rich to the middle classes. What an impoverished political ideal! I have always thought that the good society is one that allows all individuals to develop and exercise their personal capacities to the fullest. This has nothing to do with Gini ratios or the nature of income deciles, but it has everything to do with provided even the most deprived with the means of attaining a life of meaning and dignity. Perhaps there is no longer a single "condition of blacks in America," but we all have the obligation to fight for everyone having decent life chances.
7 people found this helpful
 Report
Dr. Mark Robinson
5.0 out of 5 stars Mr. Eugene Robinson knows his subject matter!!!!!
Reviewed in the United States on 23 October 2010
Verified Purchase
It gives me immense pleasure to review Mr. Eugene Robinson newly released "Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America". As an African America, this Eugene's book is greatly significant and necessary for our culture. It's an unspoken ideology among coffee drinkers, book readers, television watchers and the like that every race within the group are the same. For example, all White-Americas like country music. I am not suggesting that there is anything wrong with country music because I am the biggest fan of BROOKS AND DUNN, but I am suggesting that one can not based an entire race to be completely the same. In Disintegration, Eugene showed the differences among African America. According to Mr. Robinson, which is also my last name but there is no relations J, there are four categories that black America could be placed in: Mainstream, Abandoned, Transcendent, and Emergent (MATE). Here is a little description of MATE:

1. A Mainstream middle-class majority with a full ownership stake in American society.
2. A large, Abandoned minority with less hope of escaping poverty and dysfunction than at any time since Reconstruction's crushing end.
3. A small Transcendent elite with such enormous wealth, power, and influence that even white folks have to genuflect.
4. Two newly Emergent groups-- individuals of mixed-race heritage and communities of recent black immigrants-- that make us wonder what "black" is even supposed to mean.
(Disintegration page 5)

This book is really for anybody that is interested in the subject matter. The only problem with this book it is too short (237 pages of text) and its hard to put down. Besides that there is nothing really I would suggested that is wrong with it. I hope Oprah see this book and have Mr. Robinson on her show and maybe have it for her book club choice.....that's a thought!

No-matter if you on the left or right, this book is for you. It is ideal for a present for your loved ones for the upcoming season. This book gets five starts!
9 people found this helpful
 Report