Megan

Dear Mr. Aronson:  In general, I liked your book //Race//. I think you made some very good points and had a lot of research and examples to support them. However, since you were writing about a highly controversial topic, I also think that you let your own thoughts, opinions, and prejudices influence your writing too much. Having your own experiences have helped your readers to feel more connected to you, and therefore be more partial to positive interpretations of what you wrote, but I feel that you could have been more objective at times.  The section that specifically caught my attention was your idea of the “Four Pillars of Race.” What held my attention throughout the entire book was how you referred back to those pillars and described how they were challenged as the theories on race developed over time. I also like how you went over where prejudice could have originated from and how society has clung to those ancient fears and assumptions. The part that mainly left me with more positive thoughts about your book was probably your opening and closing. I like how you started out and concluded with people, humanity, as a unified whole.  One suggestion I have is that you try to be more objective. For example, I thought that on pages 208 and 209 that you were a little blunt on describing your resentment of Germans. It seemed sort of stereotypical and I think you could have worded it differently. These are just some of my ideas of the weaker and stronger parts of your book, and how I interpreted your arguments. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Megan McBride 