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93 Nw. U. L. Rev. 525 (1998-1999)
Jews, Truth, and Critical Race Theory

handle is hein.journals/illlr93 and id is 535 raw text is: Copyright 1999 by Northwestern University, School of Law Printed in U.S.A. Northwestern University Law Review Vol. 93, No. 2 Book Review JEWS, TRUTH, AND CRITICAL RACE THEORY BEYOND ALL REASON: THE RADICAL ASSAULT ON TRUTH IN AMERICAN LAW. By Daniel A. Farber and Suzanna Sherry. Oxford Uni- versity Press, 1997. Edward L. Rubin* Once the initial shock had subsided and the succeeding sense of ago- nized self-doubt had been resolved, the counterattack against critical race theory began. Even liberals have their limits after all, and to be called rac- ists was just too much. George Wallace, Bull Connor, and the Ku Klux Klan-those are racists. Liberals and others who have supported integra- tion, voting rights, affirmative action, and social welfare legislation simply could not see themselves in the same category. Regardless of their sympa- thy for the cause of their accusers, they felt obligated to respond.' Beyond All Reason, by Daniel Farber and Suzanna Sherry,2 represents a comprehensive and original critique of critical race theory. The book is comprehensive because it effectively articulates the prevailing critiques of critical race theory and the related critiques of radical feminism and gay le- gal studies. Farber and Sherry describe all three as radical multicultural- ism,3 although the more common designation is outsider scholarship. The proponents of this approach, they argue, distort the truth, hide behind claims of private experience and incommensurability, use storytelling methodology that is ambiguous and manipulative, disrupt the rationality and civility of scholarly discourse, and reduce law to power politics. The book's originality lies in Farber and Sherry's claim that the critical race * Professor, University of Pennsylvania Law School. I want to thank Malcom Feeley and Rachel Moran for their helpful comments. 1 For some examples, excluding work by Farber or Sherry, see Larry Alexander, What We Do, and Why We Do It, 45 STAN. L. REV. 1885 (1993); Stephen Carter, Academic Tenure and White Male Standards: Some Lessons from the Patent Law, 100 YALE L.J. 2065 (1991); Anne Coughlin, Regulating the Self: Autobiographical Performances in Outsider Scholarship, 81 VA. L. REV. 1229 (1995); Randall Kennedy, Racial Critiques of Legal Academia, 102 HARV. L. REV. 1745 (1989); Tony Massaro, Empa- thy, Legal Storytelling and the Rule of Law: New Words, Old Wounds?, 87 MICH. L. REV. 2099 (1989); Mark Tushnet, The Degradation of Constitutional Discourse, 81 GEO. L.J. 251 (1992). 2 DANIEL A. FARBER & SUZANNA SHERRY, BEYOND ALL REASON: THE RADICAL ASSAULT ON TRUTH IN AMERICAN LAW (1997). 3 See id. at 16-23.

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