In this excellent work, Kaplan shares her insights on journalism, race, gender, and politics gleaned from many years of experience in the field. This book is thoughtful, captivating, and well-written. ( )

Very well written. Interesting points of view on "post racial" America. ( )

"Growing up, I always considered myself to be my mother's child. I liked what that meant: my mother was kind but entirely unsentimental, self-possessed but unassuming, practical above all things. She got married in a plain tea-length dress and short gloves and then gave the whole outfit away because she said she didn't need it anymore.... I admired my mother's efficiency, her equipoise and lack of wasted motion--these were the models I used to streamline my own imagination, to build my aspirations of becoming a writer."

This passage from Erin Aubrey Kaplan's essay "Mother Roux" is characteristic of her writing style: direct, smart and engaging, and creatively written without being flowery... (probably a trait picked up from her mother!) Personally, my favorite section of 'Black Talk, Blue Thoughts, and Walking the Color Line' is Kaplan's section on Mothers and Fathers, from which that excerpt from "Mother Roux" came. She explores her family's roots in New Orleans and her own experiences growing up within the postwar "Creole network" that had transplanted in Los Angeles.

Describing her relationship with her mother via their relationship to food, Kaplan is able to make reference to collective identity and identity politics, racial and ethnic topics, and her own personal experience, all in the context of an easily accessible story about family. This ability to interweave personal and broader social issues makes Kaplan's work a pleasure to read. Excerpts such as "Mother Roux," "Losing New Orleans," and Behind the American-History Curtain: Washington DC and the Lessons of Memory" would make excellent readings for a college-level course having anything to do with writing, race, or American history. ( )

How one views and thinks about race has largely to do with one's own life experiences and what one reads, and how the individual is able to think about and analyze both of these. In "Black Talk, Blue Thoughts," we are able to "get into" Erin Aubry Kaplan's head and see how she puts all of this together.

A journalist for many years, Kaplan's book is like an out-of-order memoir. Although her essays are largely about what is going on in the world at the time of the writing (roughly mid 1990s to mid 2000s), we get to know Kaplan through her thoughts on political happenings, random events, and everyday thoughts on race. She gives us a big picture and she gives us her picture. The combination makes for a strong book of essays that, a century from now, will stand up to scrutiny, and give historians meaty food for thought.

Although most of the essays in the book have been published, a few appear for the first time in this publication. The reader may wonder whether the essays that did not see print before were rejected as being too controversial or whether Kaplan never put them forward to be printed as they were too personal.

From her sassy essay on the posteriors of black women to a suprising essay on President Obama to her husband's diagnosis of cancer, Kaplan shows us the inside of her mind and the inside of her heart. By the end of the book we feel as though we know her very well. And what do we know about race that is different? One thing is definite: every reader of "Black Talk, Blue Thoughts" will find a moment or two during the reading to reflect and question their own beliefs and thoughts. This is what Kaplan does best: makes us think. ( )

We need more books like this. We are not living in "post-racial" times and this book explains why. Kaplan writes in a style that my dad would be comfortable with and that is important. So much race theory can be so thick very few people can read it without a PhD (and even then sometimes they can't). I appreciate her honesty and forthright voice. Just read this book ( )