Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man?

Of course race is not a simple topic, and each discussion heads in its own direction. Tiger Woods speaks both of his biracial identity and of how moving it was to see the black staff at Augusta National lined up to see him put on the green jacket as Masters champion. George Lopez talks about the pressures of creating a breakthrough Latino sitcom in an almost all-white industry. Film producer Peter Guber surprises Barkley when he says that he made The Color Purple out of economic self-interest, not idealism. Many of the discussions turn, like Guber's, not to traditional civil rights but to economics, which Rabbi Steven Leder calls the real "last taboo subject in America." It's clear that the audience Barkley most hopes to reach with this book is the young black men and women that he and many of his interview subjects are concerned about. "We're losing," activist Marian Wright Edelman tells him, "and if we don't stop this trend, we're going to be headed back to slavery." Barkley's celebrity subjects can provide some models for success for those readers, but one also hopes Barkley can continue the conversation by turning the spotlight on those struggling with the problems of race outside the sometimes protective glare of fame. --Tom Nissley

Who's Afraid of Talking to a Large Black Man?

Throughout his career, Charles Barkley has always been willing--quite willing--to call it as he sees it, making him one of the most quotable athletes of his era and, many have suggested, a future political candidate. He's as happy talking issues as talking hoops, and for his new book, Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man? he sat down for conversations across the country about the troublesome topic of race in America. We had our own conversation on the subject with Sir Charles: Read it to find why he wrote the book, what he tells his own biracial daughter about race, and why he thinks sports can be a model for race relations.

Product Description
In this controversial national bestseller, Charles Barkley takes on the major issue of our time in a series of charged, in-your-face conversations with some of America's most prominent figures-featuring new commentary about New Orleans and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

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Who's afraid to talk on the record about the way things really are in this country where race is concerned? Not Charles Barkley, and now, thanks to him, not a host of other important people who carry a wealth of wisdom with them, from Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to Samuel L. Jackson, Tiger Woods and Ice Cube. This is the most personal and important book Charles Barkley has written. He lays himself open here, and because he does, he brings the same straight talk out of everyone with whom he engages in his journey around America to talk about the things that matter most that are the hardest to say - things having to do with race, and money, and identity. Why is it that we can all talk about all sorts of big issues, but when the subject of race is raised, we all freeze up? Who but Charles Barkley can put us into the passenger seat next to him for one of the most fantastic American road trips in recent memory? Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man is so surprising, challenging, and entertaining, so compelling to read, that its importance sneaks up on you and knocks you clean into another state of mind. Bold, honest, funny, moving, occasionally shocking-everything we feel we can't say but it really is time we did. Only Charles Barkley could make this conversation happen, and for that alone he is a national treasure.