A PROFILE OF THE NEGRO AMERICAN

Most people use the reversed term, ""American Negro""; Mr. Pettigrew's assignment of the roles of noun and adjective in his title is a significant indication of the great precision he has employed throughout this book. Under the main headings of ""Negro American Personality"" and ""Racial Differences,"" he has systematically attacked and nearly always obliterated every major white supremacist superstition. His ammunition is the latest data from the fields of psychology, sociology, biology, genetics, and economics, and he fires each round -- from 565 sources -- with deadliest accuracy. Then, in his third section, ""Negro American Protest,"" he accurately assesses the actual gains made so far in the civil rights movement, and predicts a growth in intensity and depth, a shift from status to specifically economic purposes, a more extensive use of boycotts, and the necessity for ""basic structural changes in American society...before viable race-relations are possible."" There have been many books on this critical subject already, and obviously it is too soon to expect a definitive treatment; yet for scope and authority, Mr. Pettigrew's efforts come surprisingly close to such a goal.