Books by Cedric J. Robinson

Do we live in basically orderly societies that occasionally erupt into violent conflict, or do we fail to perceive the constancy of violence and disorder in our societies? In this classic book, originally published in 1980, Cedric J. Robinson contends that our perception of political order is an illusion, maintained in part by Western political and social theorists who depend on the idea of leadership as a basis for describing and prescribing social order.Using a variety of critical approaches in his analysis, Robinson synthesizes elements of psychoanalysis, structuralism, Marxism, classical and neoclassical political philosophy, and cultural anthropology in order to argue that Western thought on leadership is mythological rather than rational. He then presents examples of historically developed "e;stateless"e; societies with social organizations that suggest conceptual alternatives to the ways political order has been conceived in the West. Examining Western thought from the vantage point of a people only marginally integrated into Western institutions and intellectual traditions, Robinson's perspective radically critiques fundamental ideas of leadership and order.

A collection of essays by one of the foremost scholars on the Black Radical Tradition

A major work on Marxism by one of the world's most influential black scholars

Presents Cedric Robinson's analysis of the history of communalism that has been claimed by Marx and Marxists. Accompanied by a new foreword by Helen Quan and a preface by Avery Gordon, this invaluable text reimagines the communal ideal from a broader perspective that transcends modernity, industrialization, and capitalism.

Traces Black political cultures in the US from slave resistances in the 16th and 17th centuries to civil rights movements of the late 20th century. The text argues that Blacks have constructed cultures resistance and accommodation based on the different experiences of slaves and free Blacks.

Offers an understanding of race in America through an analysis of theater and film of the early twentieth century. This work argues that economic, political, and cultural forces present in the eras of silent film and the early ""talkies"" firmly entrenched limited representations of African Americans.