In Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word, Harvard Law School professor Randall Kennedy grapples with a key term in the lexicon of race relations. He traces the history of the word nigger, showing that it has been primarily employed as an insult, probably the most notorious racial epithet in America, and perhaps, the world. Kennedy also demonstrates, however, that people have used the term nigger in other ways. Some have written or spoken the word in order merely to document its usage. Others have written or spoken the word in order to condemn it. Still others have used it in order to attempt to transform its meaning, to convert it from a negative slur into a positive gesture of solidarity. All of these uses are intensely controversial, and many observers believe that everyone should refrain from using nigger given its history, its continued use as a wounding slur, and the very real risk that it will hurt feelings regardless of the intentions of a given speaker or writer. Kennedy describes and assesses these arguments and counter-arguments. Along the way he introduces readers to intense debates over such issues as the propriety of assigning to students Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn (in which the word appears 215 times), the wisdom of imposing special speech codes on college campuses, conflicting ways of defining nigger in dictionaries, and contending approaches to disciplining those who respond violently to racial insults.

By tracing the origins of this controversial word, mapping its connotations, and exploring the surrounding controversy, Randall Kennedy provides a comprehensive framework for a reexamination of our laws, attitudes, and culture.