I can't say I enjoyed this book, it is much too painful to read about the so-called "reasonable" men, doing their research in what we know now to be a completely unreasonable manner - ostensibly trying to determine if black people are as intelligent as white people - but, in the name of objectivity, completely handicapping the experiment. But it certainly does make me think. How strong our prejudices are that we cannot even recognize them when we are explicitly looking at them. These men performed experiments on and with a young black boy and ostensibly had no idea how their own prejudices came into play. And then I remind myself that it is a work of fiction, after all. Perhaps, Anderson is exaggerating. But, no, people of that day actually believed the things that these "learned gentlemen" researched and asserted.
I must admit, I skimmed parts of this book. They were simply too uncomfortable for me to want to read. And parts of the book were simply boring. I think it could have been edited down to a more effective book about 2/3 of the current length. But, I also have to admit to a great deal of respect for M. T. Anderson. This is an extremely difficult subject to tackle and it is done from a rather unique perspective.
But, just as reasonable men didn't see their own prejudice against blacks, I wonder what current social obsession we manage to completely misview, because of our own prejudices. The prejudice against gays and lesbians doesn't qualify, because we are now aware of it. Prejudice against the intelligence of other animal species - especially apes and dolphins and their relatives - might qualify. The arrogance of our species in thinking we are the top and end point of the evolutionary chain might also. But it is likely something quite different - something only hindsight will make us aware of. Sigh. We are such limited beings.
Even us white ones. (*intended sarcastic irony*)
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