Where We Stand Class Matters

"Where We Stand: Class Matters is a statement of self, reaching through all of those selves who think properly on class, to embrace a society transformed by redistribution...hooks moves analytically to grasp what so many theorists of our time have evaded." -- Literary Review of Canada"hooks's story is both inspiration and cautionary tale." -- Washington Post"hooks delves into the deep divisions of class, socio-economics, and race that are too often lightly stepped around and avoided and brings them out, lays them on the table, and helps us bravely through the pieces and make sense of them." -- Black Issues Book Review"hooks is often refreshing simply because she says so clearly what she really means. No academic rigamarole or mystical jargon for her. The good news is that such occasionally awkward phrases...are sometimes preludes to her seamless depictions of the complex cultural nuances that make up contemporary American culture." -- The Washington Post Book World"This incisive examination of class is rooted in cultural critic hooks personal experience, political commitment, and social theory, which links gender, race, and class. Starting with her working-class childhood, the author illustrates how everyday interactions reproduce class hierarchy while simultaneously denying its existence. Because she sustains an unflinching gaze on both her own personal motivations and on persistent social structures, hooks provides a valuable framework for discussing such difficult and unexplored areas as greed, the quest to live simply, the ruling-class co-optation of youth through popular culture, and real estate speculation as an instrument of racism." -- Library Journal"[A]n engaging, thought-provoking memoir." -- Boston Herald"In often-evocative prose, bell hooks utilizes her own life to quickly 'get to the heart of matters,' developing insights and pithy truths that resonate long after her books are put down. Where We Stand is a deeply felt rendering that engages us through descriptions of her childhood and her process of coming to class awareness." -- NSWA Journal