SOURCE: Alexander, Amy. Review of Workin' on the Chain Gang: Shaking Off the Dead Hand of History, by Walter Mosley. Black Issues Book Review 2, no. 4 (July 2000): 52.

In the following review, Alexander compares Workin' on the Chain Gang: Shaking Off the Dead Hand of History with David J. Dent's In Search of Black America, arguing that Mosley's work has a more “courageous” and refined thematic focus.

All along, we knew that Walter Mosley was deep. Now, with the publication of Workin' on the Chain Gang, we know that he is courageous, too. Published as part of the Library of Contemporary Thought's series on “provocative issues,” Mosley's nonfiction effort brings his singular voice and innovative views on race and class to the fore. By primarily exploring the class differences that pose the greatest challenge to our democracy, Mosley goes beyond old racial constructs to reveal the literal and metaphoric “chains...