African Americans at the Crossroads: The Restructuring of Black Leadership and the 1992 Elections.

Here is a sober look at the current condition of African-Americans, the inability of many of their leaders to respond to the crisis in the African-American community, and the challenges that face the community and its leaders in the years to come.

It is also an in-depth account of the 1992 Presidential campaign, and how African-Americans--both at the leader-ship level and at the grass roots--responded to the Democrats and to fledgling third-party efforts.

Lusane raises a number of strategic political issues: Should African-Americans rely on elected officials or grass-roots activists for leadership? Should African-Americans continue to vest hope and resources in the Democratic Party, or should they pursue a third-party option? And by what means can African-Americans ensure accountability of their leaders?

While Lusane does not provide definitive answers to these questions, he does sketch an agenda for action and, above all, he stresses the urgency of new thinking: "Which way forward? As Black America stands at the crossroads of its future, this question gnaws at the intestines of the Black community and its leadership," he writes. "The current state of debilitating circumstances confronting large and growing sectors of the Black community demands a new, imaginative vision, a new agency by Black leadership, and a new sense of historic purpose on the part of African Americans."