A powerful new history of the idea of race, forcing us to rethink today's culture wars. Is white privilege real? How racist is the working class? Why has left-wing antisemitism grown? Who benefits most when anti-racists speak in racial terms? The 'culture wars' have generated ferocious argument, but little clarity. This book takes the long view, explaining the real origins of 'race' in Western thought, and tracing its path from those beginnings in the Enlightenment all the way to our own fractious world. In doing so, leading thinker Kenan Malik upends many assumptions underpinning today's heated debates around race, culture, whiteness and privilege. Malik interweaves this history of ideas with a parallel narrative: the story of the modern West's long, failed struggle to escape ideas of race, leaving us with a world riven by identity politics. Through these accounts, he challenges received wisdom, revealing the forgotten history of a racialised working class, and questioning fashionable concepts like cultural appropriation. Not So Black and White is both a lucid history rewriting the story of race, and an elegant polemic making an anti-racist case against the politics of identity.

Kenan Malik has done the almost impossible: written a clear and dispassionate book about a murky and passionate subject. He shows how the old errors and lies about race, class and genes have been reborn wearing a new disguise. If you believed The Bell Curve, this book will change your mind.' - Professor Steve Jones, author, The Language of The Genes and In the Blood; Illuminating, often provocative, and always stimulating, The Meaning of Race reveals how central race is to our ways of thinking and doing, so central that we do not often recognise it as such.' - Marek Kohn, author, The Race Gallery; Kenan Malik's exploration of the race question' is timely and incisive. Read it and be challenged.' - A Sivanandan, editor, Race and Class;In The Meaning of Race, Kenan Malik throws new light on the nature and origins of ideas of racial difference. He reconstructs the evolution of the modern discourse of race and investigates its meaning in contemporary society. Arguing that the concept of 'race' is a means through which Western society has come to understand the relationship between humanity, society and nature, the book re-examines the relationship between Enlightenment thought and ra

Today, race seems to be both everywhere and nowhere. There still exists a general abhorrence about discriminating between people according to their race. And yet, people are continually categorized according to their race--Afro- Caribbean, white, Jewish--though we often have difficulty in defining just what race is. Everything from criminality to the entrepreneurial spirit is given a racial connotation--witness stereotypes of black muggers or Asian shopkeepers. The Meaning of Race argues that the social meaning of race in modern society emerges from the contradiction between an ideological commitment to equality and the persistence of inequality as a practical reality. Kenan Malik here follows the development of racial ideology over the past two hundred years, tracing the different forms it has taken, from biological theories of race to the relationship between race and culture. Specific attention is focused on the impact of the break up of the postwar order and the end of the Cold War and the concomitant repoliticisation of the notion of racial difference. Malik goes on to critique the poststructuralist and postmodern theories of difference which have become the backbone of contemporary antiracist discourse, and to examine the possibility of transcending the discourse of race. Kenan Malik is a freelance journalist, lecturer, and broadcaster specializing in issues of race, politics, and the Third World. He has been a regular contributor to such newspapers as The Guardian and Independent.

Today, race seems to be both everywhere and nowhere. There still exists a general abhorrence about discriminating between people according to their race. And yet, people are continually categorized according to their race--Afro- Caribbean, white, Jewish--though we often have difficulty in defining just what race is. Everything from criminality to the entrepreneurial spirit is given a racial connotation--witness stereotypes of black muggers or Asian shopkeepers. The Meaning of Race argues that the social meaning of race in modern society emerges from the contradiction between an ideological commitment to equality and the persistence of inequality as a practical reality. Kenan Malik here follows the development of racial ideology over the past two hundred years, tracing the different forms it has taken, from biological theories of race to the relationship between race and culture. Specific attention is focused on the impact of the break up of the postwar order and the end of the Cold War and the concomitant repoliticisation of the notion of racial difference. Malik goes on to critique the poststructuralist and postmodern theories of difference which have become the backbone of contemporary antiracist discourse, and to examine the possibility of transcending the discourse of race. Kenan Malik is a freelance journalist, lecturer, and broadcaster specializing in issues of race, politics, and the Third World. He has been a regular contributor to such newspapers as The Guardian and Independent.

Almost thirty years ago, the image of burning copies of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses held aloft by thousand-strong mobs of protesters became an internationally familiar symbol of anger and offence. In From Fatwa to Jihad, Kenan Malik reveals how the Rushdie affair transformed the debate worldwide on multiculturalism, tolerance and free speech, helped fuel the rise of radical Islam and pointed the way to the horrors of 9/11 and 7/7. In this new edition, Malik examines the rise of home-grown jihadis, the threat of IS-inspired terrorism in Europe and how the West has failed to learn the lessons of the past.

In this remarkable and groundbreaking book, Kenan Malik explores the history of moral thought as it has developed over three millennia, from Homer's Greece to Mao's China, from ancient India to modern America. It tells the stories of the great philosophers, and breathes life into their ideas, while also challenging many of our most cherished moral beliefs. Engaging and provocative, The Quest for a Moral Compass confronts some of humanity's deepest questions. Where do values come from? Is God necessary for moral guidance? Are there absolute moral truths? It also brings morality down to earth, showing how, throughout history, social needs and political desires have shaped moral thinking. It is a history of the world told through the history of moral thought, and a history of moral thought that casts new light on global history. At a time of great social turbulence and moral uncertainty, there will be few histories more important than this.

Our contemporary celebration of difference, respect for pluralism, and avowal of identity politics have come to be regarded as the hallmarks of a progressive, modern democracy. Yet despite embracing many of its values, we have at the same time become wary of multiculturalism in recent years.
In the wake of September 11, 2001 and the many terrorist attacks that have occurred since then, there has been much debate about the degree of diversity that Western nations can tolerate. In "Multiculturalism and its Discontents," Kenan Malik looks closely at the role of multiculturalism within terrorism and societal discontent. He examines whether it is possible--or desirable--to try to build a cohesive society bound by common values and he delves into the increasing anxiety about the presence of the Other within our borders."
Multiculturalism and its Discontents" not only explores the relationship between multiculturalism and terrorism, but it analyzes the history of the idea of multiculturalism alongside its political roots and social consequences.

Kenan Malik has done the almost impossible: written a clear and dispassionate book about a murky and passionate subject. He shows how the old errors and lies about race, class and genes have been reborn wearing a new disguise. If you believed The Bell Curve, this book will change your mind.' - Professor Steve Jones, author, The Language of The Genes and In the Blood; Illuminating, often provocative, and always stimulating, The Meaning of Race reveals how central race is to our ways of thinking and doing, so central that we do not often recognise it as such.' - Marek Kohn, author, The Race Gallery; Kenan Malik's exploration of the race question' is timely and incisive. Read it and be challenged.' - A Sivanandan, editor, Race and Class;In The Meaning of Race, Kenan Malik throws new light on the nature and origins of ideas of racial difference. He reconstructs the evolution of the modern discourse of race and investigates its meaning in contemporary society. Arguing that the concept of 'race' is a means through which Western society has come to understand the relationship between humanity, society and nature, the book re-examines the relationship between Enlightenment thought and ra