John H. McWhorter, Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, writes and comments extensively on race, ethnicity and cultural issues for the Manhattan Institute. He also writes a regular column in the New York Sun. His newest book, All About the Beat: Why Hip Hop Can't Save Black America (Gotham Books), points beyond the empty gestures of the "hip-hop revolution" to a brave new politics for Black America, calling for a renewed sense of purpose and pride in black communities.

John McWhorter is also the author of the New York Times Best seller Losing the Race (Harper Perennial), and an anthology of race writings, Authentically Black (Gotham Books). McWhorter's book, Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America (Gotham Books) generated widespread acclaim. He was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in Non-Fiction and has appeared numerous national TV and radio shows, such as Meet the Press, John McLaughlin's One on One, the O'Reilly Factor, and NPR's Fresh Air. McWhorter is also a well-known and widely published linguistics scholar. McWhorter's work on race and cultural issues has appeared in leading publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The National Review, City Journal, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and New York Magazine.

In addition to his work for the Center for American University, McWhorter is a noted linguist and the author of The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language, on how the world's languages arise, change, and mix, and Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music in America and Why We Should, Like, Care. He has also written a book on dialects and Black English, The Word on the Street, and three books on Creole languages. The Teaching Company released his 36-lecture audiovisual course The Story of Human Language in 2004. His latest academic book on linguistics is Defining Creole. The next, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue, will be published in 2008.

John McWhorter earned his PhD in linguistics from Stanford University in 1993 and became Associate Professor of Linguistics at UC Berkeley after teaching at Cornell University.

Select Media:

• NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, PBS, 9-16-09
• Lars Lars Show, Westwood One, 6-29-09
• Kresta in the Afternoon, Ave Maria Radio, 6-29-09
• Special Report, Fox News, 6-26-09
• Hannity, Fox News, 4-22-09
• NPR News, 4-15-09
• Midmorning, MPR, 3-19-09
• Bill Moyers Journal, 2-27-09
• Brian Lehrer Show, WNYC, 2-23-09

Articles/Op-eds

• A Voice From the Other Side: Listening to Your Elder, The New Republic, 10-04-09
• What African-American Studies Could Be, Minding the Campus, 09-30-09
• Colour-Blind, National Post, 09-23-09
• From Ricci to Gates-gate: Listening to "The Conversation", The New Republic, 07-26-09
• Where The Jobs Really Are, CNN, 07-20-09
• The Supreme Court Finally Gets Real on "Disparate Impact", The New Republic, 06-29-09
• African-American Studies--As They Should Be, Clarion Call, 06-09-09
• The Murder At Harvard, Minding the Campus, 06-04-09
• Where Hiphop is "Going" and Where It Never Was, The New Republic, 05-21-09
• Stanford '89, A Happier Takeover, Minding the Campus, 04-23-09
• Moving Beyond Bias, The New Republic, 04-22-09
• What's The Real Issue For Black Students?, Dallas Morning News, 03-25-09
• A Look At Real Diversity, Minding the Campus, 03-17-09
• Defining 'Nation of Cowards' Down, The New Republic, 02-20-09
• Birthday Bash, The New Republic, 02-12-09
• Disney Gets It Right, The New Republic, 02-06-09
• Read a Book for Black-History Month, National Review Online, 02-06-09
• Lib and Let Die, The New Republic, 01-29-09
• Obama And The Black Elite, Forbes, 01-21-09
• Return to Oratory: Why O Can Lead, New York Post, 01-21-09
• Striking a New Chord, The New Republic, 01-21-09
• Barack Obama's risky bet on hope, New York Daily News, 01-21-09
• We've Had A Solution For The Black-White Reading Gap For Four Decades, The New Republic, 01-14-09
• TWO SIDES: Is Bill Cosby's Personal Responsibility/Message Unfair to Poor Blacks?, Ebony, 12-01-08
• Revenge of the Nerds, The New Republic, 11-24-08
• What Obama Means For Black America, Forbes, 11-13-08
• Revenge of the Black Nerd, New York Magazine, 11-09-08
• Of Course Race Mattered, New York Post, 11-09-08
• The End Of Racism?, Forbes, 11-05-08
• On The Content of His Character, The New Republic, 10-16-08
• Stop the hand-wringing about how racism will doom Barack Obama, New York Daily News, 10-15-08
• Long Live the SATs, The New York Sun, 09-25-08
• Underestimating Obama, The New York Sun, 09-18-08
• Speech!, The New Republic, 09-10-08
• Heed, Adhere, Accede, The New York Sun, 09-04-08
• Will the real Michelle Obama stand up?, The Boston Globe, 08-31-08
• Looking for Any Excuse, The New York Sun, 08-28-08
• Cab Ride, Interrupted, The New York Sun, 08-22-08
• 'Hope' Lacks Heft, The New York Sun, 08-14-08
• ObamaKids, New York Magazine, 08-10-08
• The Rest of the Sentence . . ., The New York Sun, 07-31-08
• From Theatrics to Reality, The New York Sun, 07-17-08
• The Audacity of Pragmatism, TheRoot.com, 07-09-08
• Obama and Bush Share Face, The New York Sun, 07-03-08
• Constantine Cries Wolf, The New York Sun, 06-27-08
• Conscious Rap Part II, The New York Sun, 06-19-08
• 'Conscious’ Rap That Isn’t, TheRoot.com, 06-19-08
• Conscious’ Hiphop Fallacy John McWhorter, The New York Sun, 06-12-08
• Racism in Retreat, The New York Sun, 06-05-08
• Showing the Flag, The New York Sun, 05-29-08
• Classroom Warfare, The New York Sun, 05-21-08
• Race as a Sport, The New York Sun, 05-15-08
• Clinton’s Monster, The New York Sun, 05-08-08
• Dashiki Posturing Of Wright, The New York Sun, 04-30-08
• Talking the Talk, The New York Sun, 04-27-08
• Not Battling Racism, The New York Sun, 04-24-08
• "Indoctrinate U."-Type Episode, The New York Sun, 04-17-08
• A Second Chance Act, The New York Sun, 04-10-08
• Conversion Of Race Conversation, The New York Sun, 03-27-08
• 'The Wire': War of Truths, The New York Sun, 03-14-08
• Fighting Words in Education Crowds, The New York Sun, 02-28-08
• ‘Obambi’ Is Working It, The New York Sun, 02-22-08
• Blackness: A Quick and Dirty Primer, TheRoot.com, 02-13-08
• Obama’s American, The New York Sun, 02-07-08
• Welcoming Obama To Reality, The New York Sun, 01-31-08
• Crying Wolf Over Race, The New York Sun, 01-30-08
• Turn Up The Heat, The New York Sun, 01-24-08
• Bradley Effect R.I.P., The New York Sun, 01-17-08
• Hillary and MLK, Wall Street Journal, 01-16-08
• Change May Now Be Happening, The New York Sun, 01-10-08
• Black-on-Black Thought Crime, The New York Sun, 01-02-08
• Beware the Witches of Grammar, The New York Sun, 12-20-07
• Guidelines Leading Nowhere, The New York Sun, 12-13-07
• Stop the Black KKK, The New York Sun, 12-06-07
• The Lawnside Syndrome, The New York Sun, 11-29-07
• The Great Hope, The New York Sun, 11-28-07
• Joel and Mike, The New York Sun, 11-08-07
• Racial Bias as Hurdle, Not Excuse, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 10-28-07
• Ghetto Pathology, The New York Sun, 10-25-07
• Walking Away From Hate, The New York Sun, 10-18-07
• Toward a New Rights Revolution, The New York Sun, 10-11-07
• Orthodox Campus, The New York Sun, 10-04-07
• Paradiso ..., The New York Sun, 09-26-07
• Exposing Bigotry, The New York Sun, 09-20-07
• Children in The Lurch, The New York Sun, 09-06-07
• Casual Killings, The New York Sun, 08-16-07
• Creole Vs. French, The New York Sun, 07-26-07
• Hangover From Brown, The New York Sun, 07-19-07
• One Of the Bad Seeds, The New York Sun, 07-12-07
• A New Alphabet, The New York Sun, 06-28-07
• Up From Prohibition, The New York Sun, 06-21-07
• Letting Words Fly, The New York Sun, 06-07-07
• Poisoned Palate?, The New York Sun, 05-31-07
• What’s the Point of Books?, The New York Sun, 05-24-07
• What’s the Point of Books?, The New York Sun, 05-24-07
• Dog Days of August, The New York Sun, 05-17-07
• What’s in a Smile?, The New York Sun, 05-10-07
• Great Society Begets Bad Society, The New York Sun, 04-26-07
• The 'N' Word, Wall Street Journal, 04-26-07
• Suicide Shooters, The New York Sun, 04-17-07
• Americans Without Americanness, National Review Online, 04-16-07
• Crises Of the Ex-Cons, The New York Sun, 04-12-07
• A Dangerous Detour, New York Daily News, 04-10-07
• They’re Finding Jobs, The New York Sun, 04-05-07
• The Truth About Ex-Cons, The New York Sun, 03-29-07
• Actions, Not Words, The New York Sun, 03-22-07
• Drama Queens on U.S. Airways, The New York Sun, 03-15-07
• Bringing Back the Campus, The New York Sun, 03-08-07
• Calling Each Other 'Dear', The New York Sun, 03-01-07
• Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire, The New York Sun, 02-22-07
• Saluting Robert Moses, The New York Sun, 02-01-07
• The Revolution Will Be Modernized, Washington Post, 02-01-07
• What is Blackness?, The New York Sun, 01-25-07
• Dying Languages, The New York Sun, 12-28-06
• For Whom Bell Tolls, The New York Sun, 12-05-06
• Maintaining A Sense Of Self, The New York Sun, 12-01-06
• O.J. Made Me Un-P.C., The New York Sun, 11-22-06
• Letter to the GOP, The New York Sun, 11-16-06
• The View From Norway: Bilingual Ed, The New York Sun, 11-09-06
• Just Say Yes, Michigan, The New York Sun, 11-02-06
• The Upside of Obama, The New York Sun, 10-26-06
• Tribes v. Westerners, The New York Sun, 10-12-06
• An Awkward Weekend, The New York Sun, 10-05-06
• Threatening Tongues?, The New York Sun, 09-28-06
• Katrina's 'Secrets', National Review Online, 09-25-06
• Affirming inequality, Catalyst Magazine, 09-22-06
• The Color of His Skin, The New York Sun, 09-21-06
• Getting Into Pacifists’ Heads, The New York Sun, 09-11-06
• Cheering Our Own, The New York Sun, 08-31-06
• In Defense of Andrew Young, Washington Post, 08-27-06
• The Perils Of ‘Sensitivity’, The New York Sun, 08-24-06
• Katrina At Age One, The New York Sun, 08-17-06
• The Wasteful Legacy of Black Power, The New York Sun, 08-16-06
• Making Do With Table Scraps, The New York Sun, 07-27-06
• Ending Victim-Like Thinking, The New York Sun, 07-20-06
• Mainstreaming Men, The New York Sun, 06-19-06
• Madea and Her Methods, Wall Street Journal, 05-27-06
• Juvenile Politics Under a Cute Afro, The New York Sun, 03-09-06
• Forebodings, National Review Online, 02-27-06
• Defined by defiance, Chicago Sun-Times, 01-22-06
• Don't believe the hype—rap anger isn't a meaningful message, Los Angeles Times, 11-27-05
• Book Review: Dealers to Rappers, Wall Street Journal, 11-18-05
• NBA Stars Should Trade 'Street' Clothes for Dignified Duds, Wall Street Journal, 11-08-05
• Calm down: Bennett's comments on abortion have been taken way out of context, Albuquerque Journal, 10-08-05
• Racism!' They Charged, National Review Online, 09-26-05
• Focus: White do-gooders did for black America, The New York Times, 09-11-05
• Burned, Baby, Burned, Washington Post, 08-14-05
• Black and White and Read All Over, The New York Times, 08-11-05
• When Producers Play the Race Card, The New York Sun, 04-19-05
• Book Review: A recapitulation, chapter & verse, The New York Sun, 02-09-05
• Black Americans must stop voting as a monolith, Dallas Morning News, 11-09-04
• Why I'm Black, Not African American, Los Angeles Times, 09-08-04
• NAACP Hasn't Advanced Anything in a Long Time, Los Angeles Times, 07-15-04
• Bill Cosby Can't Say That, Can He?, Dallas Morning News, 06-03-04
• NYC's Sea Of Red, New York Post, 04-27-04
• African-Americans are finding their way politically, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 03-27-04
• As Racism Recedes, More Blacks Shift to Political Center, Los Angeles Times, 03-17-04
• Oh, R-o-ob, The Bad Words Won't Go Away, Washington Post, 12-28-03
• Left Speechless, Los Angeles Times, 10-12-03
• Within Bounds, The New York Times, 10-04-03
• My Master's House, Wall Street Journal, 09-20-03
• Rap Only Ruins, New York Post, 08-10-03
• Blacks Should Feel Insulted, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 06-25-03
• Street Theater, Wall Street Journal, 05-30-03
• Hating Whitey Worldwide, The New York Sun, 05-03-03
• Real Diversity After Bakke, The New York Sun, 04-23-03
• Up from Hip-Hop, Commentary, 03-01-03
• Not Fit to Lead, Wall Street Journal, 12-13-02
• Diversity's No Longer the Point, Is It?, Washington Post, 12-08-02
• N.J.'s Insult To Blacks, New York Post, 10-07-02
• Racial Profiling, Wall Street Journal, 09-13-02
• It Shouldn't Be Good to Have It Bad, Washington Post, 08-04-02
• Black Isn't a Personality Type, Los Angeles Times, 05-12-02
• Cornel West Gives Black Scholars a Bad Rap, Wall Street Journal, 04-16-02

Interviews

• National Review Online's "Between the Covers", 06-19-08
• The Economist's Democracy in America, 6-13-08
• Booknotes.org March 2, 2004
• Going at the Changes In, Ya Know, English by Emily Eakin, New York Times, 11-15-03

Books

• All About the Beat: Why Hip Hop Can't Save Black America (Gotham Books, June 2008)
• Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America (Dutton and Gotham Books, February 2006)
• Authentically Black: Essays for the Black Silent Majority (Gotham Books, January 2003)

City Journal Articles

• Thus Spake Zora, Summer 2009
• Dead End, 6 February 2009
• The Ghost in Your iPod, Autumn 2008
• Looking Past Race, 26 March 2008
• Party of Chains, 8 February 2008
• Hip-Hop Graduates from Thuggery, 9 November 2007
• All Over the Field, 28 June 2007
• How Hip-Hop Holds Blacks Back, Summer 2003
• Who Should Get into College?, Spring 2003
• Job Loss Didn’t Make the Underclass, Autumn 2002
• Going to the Doggs, Autumn 2002
• Why Blacks Don’t Need Leaders, Summer 2002
• The Mau-Mauing at Harvard, Spring 2002
• The Reparations Racket, 29 March 2002
• The Campus Diversity Fraud, Winter 2002
• Racism Forever, Winter 2002
• Toward a Usable Black History, Summer 2001
• Why Blacks Should Give Bush a Chance, Spring 2001
• What’s Holding Blacks Back?, Winter 2001