KIRKUS REVIEWS
THE COLOR OF
MAN
(8-1/2
x ll-1/4. SBN: 68-10351) 109 pp.
Text
by Robert Carl Cohen
Photos
by Ken Heyman
THE
FAMILY OF MAN is the obvious progenitor, both as an
album of images of
the
world's people and as a concept:
brotherhood.
Here,
however, the handsome layout and inspiring pictures are the setting for
an explanation of what color consists of, how it is inherited (and how
variations are transmitted), how differences arose and why they
persisted;
and also why the Americas exhibited peculiarities and the effects of
slavery
and migration.
The last chapter,
reinforced by the afterword, deals with prejudice and
ideas of 'inferiority" by demonstrating that each presumed stigma (low
scores on intelligence tests, bad health, high crime rates) is the
result
of poverty.
Throughout, the text
is painstaking in leading up to and away from each
assertion, scrupulous in distinquishing between fact and
supposition.
It is easy, but not really relevant to say that, except in the first chapter on the cause of color, the very fine photographs can be enjoyed without the text, and the text can be understood without the pictures: if the child does not always grasp the conceptual connection between the two (which is sometimes quite subtle), he cannot help responding to the vitality of diversity, and quite directly to the strong Blacks. In a book that is intended to promote pride and dispel prejudice, that is a considerable contribution.
It is easy, but not really relevant to say that, except in the first chapter on the cause of color, the very fine photographs can be enjoyed without the text, and the text can be understood without the pictures: if the child does not always grasp the conceptual connection between the two (which is sometimes quite subtle), he cannot help responding to the vitality of diversity, and quite directly to the strong Blacks. In a book that is intended to promote pride and dispel prejudice, that is a considerable contribution.
CHILDREN'S BOOK WORLD
by Robert Carl Cohen
Reviewed by Dr. Robert Coles
Research psychiatrist, Harvard University Health Services,
author of "Children of Crisis: A Study of Courage and Fear."
Today in America, and indeed all over the world, our children are
perhaps
more color conscious than ever before. In the past, things were
more
brutally clear; there were those who essentially ran the world, the
European
colonial countries, and those who were run - that is, controlled,
managed,
used and abused, and always, kept in their place All that
is
changing, as we well know. In America, not only Negroes, but
Indians
and Mexican- Americans press their long-standing grievances on us as
never
before - so that a child growing up ... no matter what his color,
cannot
escape the curiousity and confusion that inevitably go with social
change
and social struggle.
This book, THE COLOR OF MAN, provides a splendid and poignant answer to our need - for words and pictures that tell and show children what color means, how its social and political significance came about. The text is in the modern sociological and anthropological tradition. We are given the biological facts of color, then told about the cultural and historical forces that made people feel different from and afraid of other people. All sorts of myths and superstitions are clearly and directly and openly put to rest, and in their place the reader is acquainted with the fears and envies that make people distrust one another and latch on to color as a convenient excuse for doing so. But don't think this book is pedantic or gloomy; it boasts dozens of really fine really touching photographs of children and grownups from all over the world.
If only every child in the world could have this book, and come to know and feel its message.
This book, THE COLOR OF MAN, provides a splendid and poignant answer to our need - for words and pictures that tell and show children what color means, how its social and political significance came about. The text is in the modern sociological and anthropological tradition. We are given the biological facts of color, then told about the cultural and historical forces that made people feel different from and afraid of other people. All sorts of myths and superstitions are clearly and directly and openly put to rest, and in their place the reader is acquainted with the fears and envies that make people distrust one another and latch on to color as a convenient excuse for doing so. But don't think this book is pedantic or gloomy; it boasts dozens of really fine really touching photographs of children and grownups from all over the world.
If only every child in the world could have this book, and come to know and feel its message.
