Professor West may be contacted through his assistant: Mary Ann Rodriguez (609-258-0021).

West's work has been described as a “polemical weapon that attempts to transform linguistic, social, cultural, and political tradition to increase the scope of individual development and democratic actions.” West’s writing, speaking, and teaching weaves together the American traditions of the Baptist Church, transcendentalism, socialism, and pragmatism.

West’s best-selling book Race Matters (1993), which has sold 400,000 copies, changed the course of America’s dialogue on race, justice, and democracy. His writings, along with his frequent lecturing and preaching, has brought him widespread attention and honors. West’s first book, Prophesy Deliverance! (1982), advocates a socially concerned African American Christianity that draws from Marxism. His American Evasion of Philosophy (1989) engages the work of Ralph Waldo Emerson and the tradition of American pragmatism, especially the thought of John Dewey. Through the 1990s and into this decade West has continued to produce a steady stream of authored and co-authored books for academics and for a more general audience, including Breaking Bread (with bell hooks, 1991); Race Matters (1993); Jews and Blacks (with Michael Lerner, 1995 ); The Future of the Race (with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 1996); and The African-American Century: How Black Americans Have Shaped Our Century (with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 2000). His recent work also includes two important books he co-authored on public policy issues: The Future of American Progressivism (with Roberto Unger, 1998) and The War Against Parents (with Sylvia Ann Hewlett, 1998).

West has worked with numerous political and social organizations. He has been a long-time member, and now serves as an honorary Chair, of the Democratic Socialists of America.  He co-chaired the National Parenting Organization’s Task Force on Parent Empowerment.  He is a co-chair of the Tikkun Community. He was part of President Clinton’s  National Conversation on Race. He has joined Al Sharpton's Presidential exploratory committee (read article at gwu.edu).

West was an undergraduate at Harvard, where among his teachers was political philosopher John Rawls, receiving the AB Magna Cum Laude in 1973. He earned MA (1975) and PhD (1980) degrees from Princeton. From 1977 to 1984 and 1987-88 West taught at Union Theological Seminary, with an appointment at Yale Divinty School from 1984-87 intervening. From 1988 to 1993 West was Professor of religion and director of the Program in African-American Studies at Princeton. In 1993 West joined the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research at Harvard Univerity, and became  Alphonse Fletcher Jr. University Professor in 1998.

In 2002 West returned to Princeton University as the Class of 1943 University Professor of Religion and African American Studies (read articles at blackvoices.com, thecrimson.com, and hear West's own account).

A website devoted to West, which offers sound clips and photos, is Prisoner of Hope, by Rob Elder (1998). Africana.com and Africanpubs.com provide biographies, and washingtonpost.com covers West’s recent activities. West’s own account of his intellectual debts and formative years is in “Introduction: The Making of an American Democratic Socialist of African Descent” in The Ethical Dimensions of Marxist Thought (1991), pp. xv-xxxiv; reprinted in The Cornel West Reader (1999), pp. 3-18.

Books about West

Cornel West and Philosophy by Clarence Sholé Johnson (Routledge 2002)

Cornel West: A Critical Reader edited by George Yancy (Blackwell 2001)

Cornel West and the Politics of Prophetic Pragmatism by Mark David Wood (University of Illinois Press 2000).

Cornel West: The Politics of Redemption by Rosemary Cowan (Polity, 2003).

More writings about West

CORNEL WEST ON THE WEB

Audio Lecture at democracynow.com (scroll down the page). In July 2003 Cornel West talks about working for meaningful democracy after September 11. Search for more talks by West at democracynow.com

An Open Letter to President Khatami (2000)

Progressive Politics and What Lies Ahead with Roberto Unger (1998)

After O.J. and the Farrakhan-led Million Man March: Is Healing Possible? (1995)

The Responsibility of Intellectuals in the Age of Crack (1993)

Black Leadership and the Pitfalls of Racial Reasoning. (1992)

On Architecture (1991) Lecture at Harvard published by Appendx in 1997, with an interview with West.

CLS and a Liberal Critic (1988)

Toward a Socialist Theory of Racism (1988)

Between Dewey and Gramsci: Unger's Emancipatory Experimentalism (1987)

Unmasking the Black Conservatives (1986)

Go West: Professor-prophet Cornel West takes his sermon to the streets, Professor-prophet Cornel West takes his sermon to the streets, by Nina Willdorf (2001)

Cornel West's Evasion of Philosophy, or, Richard Wright's Revenge, by Ralph Dumain (1996)

Search FindArticles for West

A sampling of recent lectures and speeches

January 2003     Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Northwestern University

November 2002     Speaker at "Sidney Hook Reconsidered: A Centennial Celebration," City University of New York

April 2001     Kegley Memorial Lecture at California State University, Bakersfield.

March 2001     The Inaugural Lecture in the John Dewey Distinguished Lecture Series at the University of Louisville.

Fall 2000     Coalition of Essential Schools, Fall Forum.

November 1999     Lecture on "Restoring Hope" at Williams College

March 1998     Speaks on the politics of race relations at the University of Maryland.

November 1995     Lecture on Black-Jewish Relations at Yale University

Books and Projects
[Larger Bibliography]

What's New

Cornel West appears in The Matrix sequels, playing a Zion Elder called Counselor West. He was invited by Larry and Andy Wachowski, the movies' writer-director team, who'd read West's philosophical writings and wanted to incorporate him into the script.

West and Derek 'D.O.A.' Allen produced a CD titled Sketches of My Culture in 2001, "a poignant yet inviting depiction of the African American experience that begins with the rich African heritage to and through the black American experience."  (read articles at africana.com, bet.com, and newsreview.com)

Major Writings

Democracy Matters. New York: Penguin, 2004.

The African-American Century: How Black Americans Have Shaped Our Century, with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000.

The Cornel West Reader. New York: Basic Civitas Books, 1999.

The War Against Parents, with Sylvia Ann Hewlett. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998.

The Future of American Progressivism, with Roberto Unger. Boston: Beacon, 1998.

Restoring Hope: Conversations on the Future of Black America, edited by Kelvin Sealey. Boston: Beacon Press, 1998.

The Future of the Race, with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: Knopf, 1996.

Jews and Blacks: A Dialogue on Race, Religion, and Culture in America, with Michael Lerner. New York: Dutton/Plume, 1996.

Jews and Blacks: Let the Healing Begin, with Michael Lerner. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1995.

Keeping Faith: Philosophy and Race in America. New York: Routledge, 1993.

Beyond Eurocentism and Multiculturalism. Vol. 1: Prophetic Thoughts in Post-Modern Times. Vol. 2: Prophetic Reflections: Notes on Race and Power in America. Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1993.

Race Matters. Boston: Beacon Press, 1993. Reissued in hardcover with new introduction, 2001.

Breaking Bread: Insurgent Black Intellectual Life, with bell hooks. Boston: South End Press, 1991.

Ethical Dimensions of Marxist Thought. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1991.

The American Evasion of Philosophy: A Genealogy of Pragmatism. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1989.

Prophetic Fragments: Illuminations of the Crisis in American Religion and Culture. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1988.

Prophesy Deliverance! An African American Revolutionary Christianity. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster Press, 1982.