Reckless Reviewing

I strongly disagree with Larry McCaffery’s reference to the “deodorized banalities of ‘The Bill Cosby Show’ and Steven Spielberg’s ‘The Color Purple’ ” in his review of Ishmael Reed’s “Reckless Eyeballing” (The Book Review, April 20). It apparently is still quite difficult for most Anglos (and unfortunately too many blacks) to realize that in American society, there are highly educated, well-adjusted black men and women raising a normal family and living “the American Dream.”

I tire of Reed’s constant propagandizing about the oppressed black American male who is incessantly being hurt by black women, white women and white men; one infers he bears no responsibility for his own situation. His book cannot be compared with a television show which provides a rare insight into a positive segment of the black American life style.

ANDI AVERETTA

Seal Beach