''The Alchemy of Race and Rights: Diary of a Law Professor'' is a

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...

and

critical legal studies Critical legal studies (CLS) is a school of critical theory that developed in the United States during the 1970s.Alan Hunt, "The Theory of Critical Legal Studies," Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1 (1986): 1-45, esp. 1, 5. Se DOI, 10.1 ...

text by

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

law professor Patricia J. Williams. Williams won a

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to ...

in part in recognition of the book's achievements.

Publication

Williams published ''The Alchemy of Race and Rights'' with

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

in 1991. A paperback edition was published in March 1992.

Subject matter

Writing in 1998, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' said that in ''The Alchemy of Race and Rights'', Williams "used autobiography to explore the relationship among law, race, perceptions of rights and liberation." ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' described the book as "targeting the legal mind, particularly its intersections with matters of race and gender."

Reception

Reviews

Writing in 2015, the ''

Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 2012. ...

'' invoked ''The Alchemy of Race and Rights'' as a "seminal work" on "the logic of rights...state domination... ndlegal protection." The New York Times said that with the book, "Williams changed the voice of legal scholarship." Writing for the ''

Boston Review ''Boston Review'' is an American quarterly political and literary magazine. It publishes political, social, and historical analysis, literary and cultural criticism, book reviews, fiction, and poetry, both online and in print. Its signature form ...

'' in 1991, Wendy Brown said, "As a meditation on the searing injuries of racism, on hidden histories in the entrails of legal cases, or on the bankrupt character of contemporary American political life, the effect of Williams's alchemy is powerful beyond measure."

Awards

In 1992, Williams won the Bruce K. Gould Book Award for "outstanding publication related to the law, legal profession or legal system" for ''The Alchemy of Race and Rights''. When Williams won the MacArthur "genius grant" in 2000, the Foundation cited " r highly regarded first book, ''The Alchemy of Race and Rights: A Diary of a Law Professor'' (1991)...an autobiographical work that illuminates some of America’s most complex problems."

External links

The Alchemy of Race and Rights
at Harvard University Press.
Diary of a Mad Law Professor
at

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alchemy Of Race And Rights Critical legal studies 1991 non-fiction books Harvard University Press books Books about African-American history