Snap Judgment: Books; Our critics steer you straight.(Book Review)(Brief Review)

Byline: William Dobson, Marie Valla, Christina B. Gillham

Occidentalism by Ian Buruma and Avishai Margalit

Islamic jihadists don't have a monopoly on hating the West. As this slim volume shows, West-bashers have a long pedigree, from Japanese intellectuals to Russian Slavophiles. The authors gather their dehumanizing images of the West under the rubric of Occidentalism. But even more interesting than the examples is the key insight that "most revolts against Western imperialism have borrowed from Western ideas." That makes confronting them all the more difficult--but is something of a victory in itself.

--William Dobson

I Am Black and I Don't Like Manioc by Gaston Kelman

The idea that garbage collection is for black people is an enduring prejudice in France. But when even blacks take it for granted, it's time for action, warns this Cameroon-born French author. With humor and conviction, Kelman debunks the racial cliches inherited from colonial times as well as the myth of ...