N-Word BOOK SUMMARY

Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word BY Kennedy, Randall

The word appears 5000 times.

This is a great book to read before diving into the controversy about the word nigger and the usage of it in modern America. This book explores every aspect and reaction to the word. He explores how it has been used in legal issues (the fighting words rules), and how that has evolved over time - also, what it would mean if one interpretation became prevalent over another. He looks at the usage in various cultural aspects - literature, music, film, and how people have reacted. He talks about how people want to deal with the word from those who are willing to tolerate all uses to those who would ban every use without regard to meaning (ex. Huck Finn is an anti-racism novel - but people think it is racist because of the use of nigger constantly.) He discusses racial privilege where in one race is allowed the use of a word that other races are not. Basically, if you are going to have an opinion on this matter, you should read this book to be fully informed of ALL the issues from ALL sides. Nothing is left unexamined. This book is a great service to race relations and deserves to be read by anyone who wants to be informed in this matter.


Since this is a book entirely devoted to the topic of the word nigger - a count is unnecessary. The number above was placed there simply to make sure this reference stays at the top of the list. I highly recommend reading this.