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A Journey Into the Land of Bling and Home of the Shameless
Doubleday
March 2007
On Sale: March 20, 2007
224 pages
ISBN: 0385516436
EAN: 9780385516433
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
As current and all-consuming as “ghetto” is in these
days of gold teeth, weaves (blond and red), Pepsi-filled
baby bottles, and babymamas, ghetto has a long history. The
original ghetto was in the Jewish quarter of Venice, a
Catholic city. Before it became the Jewish quarter, this
area contained an iron foundry or ghèto, hence the
name. These days, ghetto no longer refers to where you
live, but to how you live. It is a mindset, and not
limited to a class or a race. Some things are worth
repeating: ghetto is not limited to a class or
a race. Ghetto is found in the heart of the nation’s inner
cities as well as the heart of the nation’s most cherished
suburbs; among those too young to understand (we hope) and
those old enough to know better; in little white houses, and
all the way to the White House; in corporate corridors, Ivy
League havens, and, of course, Hollywood. More devastating,
ghetto is also packaged in the form of music, TV, books, and
movies, and then sold around the world. Bottom line: ghetto
is contagious, and no one is immune, no matter how much we
like to suck our teeth and shake our heads at what we think
is only happening someplace else… From an
award-winning journalist and cultural commentator comes a
provocative examination of the impact of “ghetto” mores,
attitudes, and lifestyles on urban communities and American
culture in general.
Cora Daniels takes on one of
the most explosive issues in our country today in this
thoughtful critique of America’s embrace of a ghetto persona
that demeans women, devalues education, celebrates the worst
African American stereotypes, and contributes to the
destruction of civil peace. Her investigation exposes the
central role of corporate America in exploiting the idea of
ghetto-ness as a hip cultural idiom, despite its disturbing
ramifications, as a means of making money. She showcases
Black rappers raised in privileged families who have taken
on the ghetto persona and sold millions of albums, and
non-Black celebrities, such as Paris Hilton, who have
adopted ghetto attitudes and styles in pursuit of attention
and notoriety. She explores, as well, her own relationship
to the ghetto and the ways in which she is both part of and
outside the Ghettonation.
Infused with humor and
entertaining asides—including lists of events and people
that the author nominates for the Ghetto Hall of Fame, and a
short section written entirely in ghetto
slang—Ghettonation is a timely and engrossing report
on a controversial social phenomenon. Like Bill Cosby’s
infamous, much-discussed comments about the problems within
the Black community today, it is sure to trigger widespread
interest and heated debate.
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