By beginning a conversation that encourages self-examination and compassion, Combined Destinies invites its readers to look at how white Americans have been hurt by the very ideology that their ancestors created. Editors Ann Todd Jealous and Caroline T. Haskell, both experienced psychotherapists skilled at facilitating dialogue about racial issues, are cognizant of the challenges that even the thought of such conversations often presents. Their book is based on the premise that for positive and lasting change to occur, it is necessary to open hearts as well as minds. This courageous anthology posits that unearned privilege has damaged the psyche of white people as well as their capacity to understand racism. Using intimate stories, some from writers who have never before spoken of these highly charged issues, Jealous and Haskell offer readers a chance to explore their own experiences. Drawing on the personal and heartfelt stories of diverse contributors, including Robert Zellner, Bettina Aptheker, Deb Busman, Deborah Burke, Joe Ruklick, and Alisa Fineman, Combined Destinies is organized thematically, with individual chapters that focus on, for example, guilt, shame, silence, or resistance. The book includes an extensive reader's guide, posing questions for discussion pertaining to each chapter. Anyone who is interested in mental health and spiritual healing will benefit from reading this book, but it's especially suitable for teachers, professors and students of teacher education, the social sciences, and U.S. history, as well as social activists, members of community groups, therapists, clergy, and other members of the counseling profession. AUTHOR: Ann Todd Jealous is a former marriage and family therapist with a long history of supporting civil rights; her son, Benjamin Todd Jealous, is the current president and CEO of the NAACP. She is the author of A Peace Corps Experience: From Letters Home: Musings at Twenty-something (2011). California. Caroline T. Haskell, a licensed social worker, is the founding director of Health and Wellness Services at California State University Monterey Bay, and the campus affiliate director for the National Coalition Building Institute in Washington, D.C. This is her first book. She lives in Pacific Grove, California. REVIEWS: "I picked cotton alongside blacks in the 1940s. It was our cotton and their sweat. We had a combined destiny that troubled me-mine to law school and theirs to grinding poverty. Racism pained me despite my white privilege. Combined Destinies puts that frustration into better focus. What a perceptive, well-written, and timely narrative." -Morris Dees, founder, Southern Poverty Law Center "With the stories in Combined Destinies, Ann Jealous and Caroline Haskell take us another step forward toward understanding the legacy of racism's impact on all children." -Marian Wright Edelman, president, Children's Defense Fund "Ann Jealous and Caroline Haskell have assembled a groundbreaking collection of stories by white Americans who recognize the pain and sorrow that racism has created in their lives. Everyone in society is hurt by racism, not just those who are its targets. What better way to teach this profound truth than to allow white people to share their epiphanies?" -Henry Louis Gates Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University, and author of America behind the Color Line: Dialogues with African Americans
