Jefferson

University Laboratory High School 1212 W Springfield Ave Urbana, IL 61801 ` 10/1/08 Mr. Aronson Author Atheneum Books New York Dear Mr. Aronson, I really enjoyed your book, __Race: A History Beyond Black And White,__ even though I usually don’t enjoy assigned books from school. I like your book for several reasons. First of all, I admired your courage to write a book on such a difficult, controversial subject as race and racism. Particularly I admire you for writing the book to try to understand your own prejudice. Second, I like the way you organize your book, in a easily understood chronological way showing the development of your Western view of race racism from the Ancient Greek to the present. I also like your say on how we can end prejudice comes from our childhood experiences and our human feelings of fear and anxiety of strangers and differences. I have some questions about this book. First, I know you only talked about the Western part of the world, but what are your views of the Eastern side, or many people call it, Non-West? Also, what made you first start thinking of writing this book? When you encounter those African Americans at the pool? Finally, I would like to quote from your book and ask a question about it: “The impulse to hatred is imprinted in us, and we are deeply influenced by our environment, how can we, even with our awareness of our prejudice, overcome it? Overall, I thought __Race: a history beyond black and white__ is an excellent book on how racial prejudice is created and how we might be able to overcome it. Sincerely, -Jefferson Fu