Of Greed and Glory

In Pursuit of Freedom for All

by Deborah G. Plant

On Sale: 01/09/2024

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Of Greed and Glory

In Pursuit of Freedom for All

by Deborah G. Plant

On Sale: 01/09/2024

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About the Book

In this groundbreaking exploration, the editor of the? New York Times? bestseller? Barracoon documents and discusses social, political, and economic “disparities" and “inequities" that undermine African American freedom, citizenship, and sovereignty and that inhibits the advancement of America's evolution as a democratic republic and its principles of freedom, equality, and justice for all.

Of Greed and Glory is a penetrating analysis of the systemic barriers intended to manage or prevent African American success in America. It questions the so-called “disparities" that deny and obstruct African American equality, economic stability, and political advancement. In examining the root causes of black impoverishment and the challenges to black mobility, full citizenship, and sovereignty, Of Greed and Glory posits human greed as a primary causal factor and discusses the politics of State officials and civic leaders who, driven by greed, ambition, and a propensity for excess, consciously choose to exploit “white supremacist" ideology to achieve their aims. It interrogates the fiction of a “racial divide" that is manipulated to maintain what is cast as “structural inequities."

Through analyses of court decisions, legislative acts, administrative policies, and social custom, and the stories of historical and contemporary figures like Denmark Vesey, Fannie Lou Hamer, and George Floyd, Deborah G. Plant identifies and examines specific dynamics of the oppressive systems that serve to re-enslave or colonize African Americans: deracination, dispossession, systemic exclusion, mass incarceration, and the devaluation of black life. Consequent to the undoing of black life, Plant cautions, is the simultaneous undermining of the very fabric of our constitutional democracy.

Critical Praise

"As indispensable to understanding the Americas as Edward E. Baptist’s The Half Has Never Been Told. Of Greed and Glory powerfully demonstrates that though we as Black Americans are far from faultless in some of our most egregious behavior on the mean plantations and streets of antebellum and modern America, we nonetheless have had to grow our dignity beneath the pitiless boot of those who looked into the tiny faces of our infants and saw only dollar signs. Powerful and necessary." — Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and National Book Award winning author of The Color Purple and Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart

“If you want to understand the current issues surrounding race, social justice, and inequality, you have to read Deborah Plant’s book, Of Greed and Glory. Deborah understands that the issues surrounding race, unfolding before us now in America, are deeply rooted in the legacy of the African American past. She writes eloquently and beautifully about that past. Of Greed and Glory is a must-read book for socially conscious citizens.” — —Clyde W. Ford, Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Award in African American fiction—winning author of Of Blood and Sweat and Think Black

"Of Greed and Glory is impossible to put down. It’s a searing, provocative analysis of how the roots of slavery in the US still infiltrate so many of our social institutions. Plant’s vivid prose will leave you affected, challenged, and thinking about this book long after you’re done reading." — Adia Wingfield, author of Gray Areas, Flatlining, and No More Invisible Man