Amazon.com The dilemma of the title (named for Christopher Darden a prosecutor in the first O. J. Simpson murder trial) refers to the conflict black prosecutors feel between their duty to enforce the law and their loyalty to a community that sometimes criticizes them for sending blacks to prison. In this collection， 12 writers--among them former prosecutor Paul Butler， commentator Stanley Crouch， and Chicago Tribune syndicated columnist Clarence Page--examine that notion. Some reject it. Others support the conventional wisdom that the criminal justice system is inherently racist because of the large number of imprisoned blacks. Throughout， the best essays use the "Darden dilemma" as a place from which to examine race and racism in the United States today. From Library Journal Cose， a contributing editor at Newsweek magazine， has compiled a book of essays inspired by black prosecutor Christopher Darden's account of his role in the O.J. Simpson trial. The essayists range from Roger Wilkins of George Mason University to Detroit journalist Betty DeRamus. The "dilemma" Darden and other black members of the justice system face is the problem of being an African American working in a system that many in the black community consider racist. Most of the essays are hostile to Darden， seeing him as naive at best and incompetent at worst. All of the articles focus in one way or another on the issue of black crime and imprisonment， with the majority of the authors blaming white racism and hypocrisy for African American overrepresentation in the prison system. Like most "quickie" collections， this one is uneven; it also tends to overstate the case against white America. Recommended for public libraries.?Anthony O. Edmonds， Ball State Univ.， Muncie， Ind.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information， Inc. See all Editorial Reviews