Dean Larry Davis releases new book on race

New book confronts issues of race in America University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work Dean Larry E. Davis’s new book, Why Are They Angry With Us? Essays on Race, addresses the unresolved questions and conflicts about race in America from both the author's personal and a professional perspective. Davis relates racial incidents, observations, and issues to explain the workings of race and racism in America; confronting taboo topics such as race and prison, immigration, and internalized racism. The deaths of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown that spawned the Black Lives Matter movement have put racial tensions in America in the spotlight. The collection of eight essays addresses the country’s deep misunderstandings about race, and attacks the core of many commonly held attitudes which contribute to racism in America. The book responds to many of the timely, sensitive, and often uncomfortable conversations that are taking place on television, newspapers, Twitter, and in homes around the country. “This book is for those who want to understand why race and color operate as they do in today’s world,” says Davis. “I envision this being used in classrooms and book clubs as a way to talk about racial topics that are sometimes difficult to address in everyday settings.” For Davis, this book is not only a collection of his work on race and race-related topics, but also deeply personal group of essays. This book in some respects is a personal history of race and social science told through the eyes of a Black male who is also a social scientist. The book has already garnered praise from Davis’s colleagues, James Herbert Williams from the University of Denver called it “an important contribution to the social sciences.” Why Are They Angry With Us? Essay on Race was published by and can be purchased from Lyceum Books.About the Author Larry E. Davis, MA, MSW, PhD, is the dean of the School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh, where he is the Donald M. Henderson Professor. He is the director and founder of the Center on Race and Social Problems, which conducts applied social science research on race, ethnicity, and color. From 1977 until his arrival at the University of Pittsburgh in 2001, Davis was a faculty member at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, where he was professor of social work and psychology and the holder of the E. Desmond Lee Chair in Ethnic and Racial Diversity. Davis was inducted as a fellow in the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare. Some of his publications have appeared in the Journal of Adolescent Research, Social Work, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Journal of Black Psychology, Journal of Educational Psychology, and Social Work Research. Davis is also the coeditor in chief of the Encyclopedia of Social Work, 20th edition and founder and chairman of the editorial board of the journal Race and Social Problems (Springer Publications). In addition, he is the founder and leader of REAP, a consortium of race, ethnicity, and poverty centers from across the United States. He is a member of the National Association of Social Workers, Council on Social Work Education, Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR), and the Inter-University Consortium for International Social Development (IUCISD). ### For inquires and interviews please contact: Shannon Murphy, Director of Marketing and Communications, University of Pittsburgh Shm87@pitt.edu 412-648-9404 or Lyceum Books at lyceum@lyceumbooks.com