Open Mike

November 11, 2002
This is a collection of interviews with Dyson (Race Rules; Making Malcolm; etc.), the professor, public intellectual and Baptist minister, on topics ranging from homoeroticism and the Bible to jazz and hip-hop. The most prominent emphases are contemporary critical theory and religion, which don't necessarily lend themselves to improvisation. However, the format makes Dyson's reflections more inviting than they might otherwise be to casual readers. If the fresh insights are only occasional, the book is still a useful collation of many contemporary issues—though the occasional selection, like the chapter on rapper Tupac ("Searching for the Black Jesus") suffers equally from excess and partiality—Dyson's Holler if You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur
has already argued the rapper's case. 12-city author tour.

December 15, 2002
A professor of African American studies and an ordained Baptist minister with a Ph.D. in religion and philosophy, Dyson blends esoteric analysis with insight into rap/hip-hop culture, reconciling views that many might consider incompatible. Not one to mince words, in recent years this intellectual has become somewhat controversial for his treatment of Martin Luther King's sexual escapades and academic plagiarism (" I May Not Get There with You "[2000]), and for his outspoken criticism of Michael Jordan. Dyson covers a lot of ground in this freewheeling collection of commentaries, whether he's analyzing rapper Tupac Shakur's life and death as a spiritual quest, or noting the revolutionary aspects of King's shift from liberal reformer to someone with a more radical viewpoint of race relations. Tending to seek out rather than avoid controversy, Dyson also treats figures as diverse as Malcolm X and the black Muslims, sports figures, and his compatriots on the theology of homoeroticism. This good introduction to an increasingly public figure will only stimulate readers' interest in reading more.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)