How does one categorize Cornel West? He describes himself on multiple occasions as a “neo-Gramscian pragmatist,” a “Jesus-centered intellectual bluesman,” and a “card-carrying Kierkegaardian—with a strong Chekhovian twist—and a Marxist-informed radical democrat with a tragicomic sense of life.” West seems intentionally cagy about being sorted into a particular school of thought. The resources he draws upon are too eclectic and the work he does with them too creative to treat him as a denizen of any one -ism. As he once said in an interview, “I'm less interested in being situated within a philosophical tradition and much more interested in making sense of the world, pulling from whatever intellectual tradition I can” (The Cornel West Reader [New York: Basic Civitas Books, 1999], 558).

Jacob L. Goodson and Brad Elliott Stone's new book tries on the one hand to situate West within a philosophical tradition, and on the other hand...

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