Shelby Steele

American author and Hoover Institution fellow — author of The Content of Our Character (1990 National Book Critics Circle Award), White Guilt, and Shame — the most psychologically sophisticated Black conservative writer on American race relations.

Creates the 'bargaining vs. challenging' framework for Black American public figures — Steele's distinction (between Black figures who bargain with White guilt for individual benefit versus those who challenge White society to acknowledge Black agency and self-development) is the most psychologically penetrating analysis of the dynamics of American racial politics.