Evan

University Laboratory High School 1212 W. Springfield Ave. Urbana, IL 61801 September 30, 2008

Marc Aronson Author and Historian Ginee Seo Books New York, New York

Dear Mr. Aronson:

I have enjoyed reading your book, //Race//. It was very informative, if biased at points. I like the way you document the concepts of race and prejudice back to their roots. Your descriptions of all the false assumptions relating to the concept of race really struck me as a fundamental folly of our society, past and present. I think your topic was well expanded upon. Your notes and documentation were straightforward. Your book was well written and concise.

However, I did not like how your book has been influenced by your subjective opinions (i.e. pp. 182-184). For example, you stated that you were biased against Germans because you think the current German population should suffer for the sins of their fathers (pp. 208-209). In addition, you cover a large amount of history the South for their predecessors enslaving and mistreating African-Americans (i.e. pp. 249). Furthermore, I find you do not spend enough time (four pages) talking about Hispanics in the Americas and their struggles, such as the conquistadors, the European rule and oppression of Central and South America, the Mexican-American War, and the Spanish-American War. Moreover, they are still struggling today with stereotypes, such as that all are poor or are solely from Mexico and not other places, and with key issues, such as illegal immigration and economic woes. I feel your book does not live up to its subtitle.

I loved your captivating introduction. The way you related a global problem to your own personal experience was the kind of insight that more authors should possess. In contrast, the final pages of the book were dissatisfying after the buildup of information that you gave. You, in essence, tell us to give up hope of any changes to our collective way of thinking about race. You should have given more examples as how to help solve the problem. Nonetheless, your final chapter, as a whole, was on par with the rest of the book.

Overall, your book was enlightening, with a few flaws. I think that your second edition, should you make one, will be better than the first and any future books you write will be enhanced by your experience with //Race//.

Sincerely, Evan Ramos