Caroline

September 30, 2008 Marc Aronson Author Atheneum Books for Young Readers New York, New York Dear Mr. Aronson, I just finished reading your book, //Race: A History Beyond Black and White//. It was pretty good, but there were a few things that I had questions about. One of them was; why did you hardly ever mention Latinos as one of your “racial categories”? You talked about most of the others: Asians, Caucasians, African Americans, Irish, Native Americans, Italians, Germans, and even Jews, but there were one, maybe two mentions of any one with a Hispanic background. Why? I also was very curious about your “opinions” of Germans. Why do you hate them so much? I know, you’re Jewish, and you resent them for the Holocaust, but that was Hitler and his followers who did horrible things to Jews, not the Germans in general. That sounds very prejudiced, if you ask me, and wasn’t the whole point of your book trying to get people //not// to judge others before you get to know them? A lot of the Germans didn’t support Hitler, and if they can never be guilty enough to satisfy you, then shouldn’t you, and all the rest of the Americans, never be able to feel sorry enough for imprisoning the Japanese in internment camps, or for dropping the first atom bomb on Hiroshima? Since it was //your// country that did that, Mr. Aronson, do you think, as you suggest the Germans should, that you can never feel guilty enough? That the Japanese are allowed to resent our food, our soccer team, and our good cars? I disagree with you strongly, but everyone’s entitled to their own opinion (208-209).I'm not arguing that you shouldn't have put that passage about the Germans in, I'm just trying to figure out why you hate them in the first place. I did like your book. I thought it was well written, detailed, and had good examples of every point you made. And, I liked that you voiced your opinion about the Germans. It made you seem relatable in the book. Sincerely, Caroline Beshers