num_pages: 166
description: For the black community Jerald Walker asserts in How to Make a Slave anger is often a prelude to a joke as there is broad understanding that the triumph over this destructive emotion lay in finding its punchline. It is on the knifes edge between fury and farce that the essays in this exquisite collection balance. Whether confronting the medical professions racial biases considering the complicated legacy of Michael Jackson paying homage to his writing mentor James Alan McPherson or attempting to break free of personal and societal stereotypes Walker elegantly blends personal revelation and cultural critique. The result is a bracing and often humorous examination by one of Americas most acclaimed essayists of what it is to grow parent write and exist as a black American male. Walker refuses to lull his readers; instead his missives urge them to do better as they consider through his eyes how to be a good citizen how to be a good father how to live and how to love. 
language: English
title: How to Make a Slave and Other Essays
publisher: Mad Creek Books