native solutions to deal honestly with certain hard facts about the ghetto poor. Particularly cogent is his refutation of those who believe that blacks can emulate the experiences of immigrant groups and escape poverty through entrepreneurship. By Lemann’s account, the limited experience of Southern Negroes with private enterprise has been fatally eroded by life in the ghetto; the one successful businessman in his book, who appears in the concluding chapter, got his start through the anti-poverty program.
Nor is it necessary to concur with Lemann’s policy proposals to appreciate the achievement of The Promised Land as a work of historical journalism. Lemann does not have the answer to today’s racial dilemma, but he addresses the full dimensions of a crisis which so many others would prefer to shun.