Future without Forgiveness,” which describes how South Africa managed an extraordinary transition from repression to the relative stability of democracy. The main message of this section is this: if South Africa could largely overcome apartheid, then anyone can prevail in the midst of personal struggle. These particular essays could be used in undergraduate courses, such as Social Problems, Minority Group Relations, and Environmental Sociology, that address seemingly insurmountable challenges and often leave students feeling hopeless and helpless. The Impossible Will Take a Little While may serve to inspire those struggling through socially difficult times. Undergraduate students motivated to bring about social change, but not sure about which direction to take or grassroots organization to join, may find inspiration and direction through reading one or more of the sections. The readings included in this volume create an awareness of the historical and contemporary battles for many different forms of social change. The Impossible Will Take a Little While would be a relevant supplementary text for undergraduate and graduate classes focused on social change or social movements because it highlights the struggles that historically and socially significant individuals have overcome. Following the reading of sections of the text, students could be broken into small groups in class, be instructed to create a list of the most daunting contemporary social problems, and then be asked to draw examples from the text that would help facilitate a problem-solving approach. Such an exercise could create a perspective that students could use as a life skill. In addition, the insights provided in the book through personal testimonies will serve to deepen the understanding students have about important historical figures, such as Nelson Mandela, and socially marginalized groups, including the LGBTQ community. “The Dark Years,” which recounts Mandela’s experiences in prison, personally resonated with me, affecting my perspective of the changes I want to engender, including eliminating racial inequalities and bringing awareness to the marginalization of specific communities. While my personal and academic challenges are not nearly as severe as Mandela’s, I was reminded of the importance of persistence in the face of adversity. As an academic who intends to battle social injustice both within and outside of the classroom, I chose to review The Impossible Will Take a Little While in a search of inspiration. It exceeded my expectations. While the book is generally well written, it is a bit disorganized in a few places. For example, there were times when a particular essay was disconnected from the others that followed. Howard Zinn’s “The Optimism of Uncertainty” would have provided a stronger intellectual context for the reading of Mandela’s “The Dark Years” than the essay currently preceding it. This limitation, however, detracts little from the overall contribution of the text and could be remedied by assigning readings out of order as deemed appropriate for an individual course. The message and accounts within the sections of the book are important for undergraduate students interested in applied sociology. Exposure to individual narratives of the key players in social movements is essential. Students benefit from a historical primer of how change has been initiated in the past to use as a guide for how they can continue to influence change today. This book provides the reader with such a perspective. One activity that could be paired with the book is Raj Ghoshal’s (2019) “Call Your Representative: Connecting Classroom Learning to Real-World Policy Action.” This particular activity would encourage the development of problem-solving strategies about the main issues presented in Loeb’s book since it requires students to take what they have learned into the political arena by lobbying elected officials on an array of policy issues. Such exercises embody the sentiments of the book and empower students thus making the impossible, possible.

中文翻译：

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书评：克鲁克县：美国最大刑事法庭的种族主义和不公正

没有宽恕的未来”，描述了南非如何实现了从镇压到民主相对稳定的非凡转变。本节的主要信息是：如果南非能够在很大程度上克服种族隔离，那么任何人都可以在个人斗争中获胜。这些特殊的论文可用于本科课程，如社会问题、少数群体关系和环境社会学，这些课程解决看似无法克服的挑战，往往让学生感到绝望和无助。The Impossible Will Take a Little While 可能有助于激励那些在社会困难时期挣扎的人。本科生有动力带来社会变革，但不确定该走哪个方向或加入草根组织，可以通过阅读一个或多个部分找到灵感和方向。本卷中包含的阅读材料让人们意识到许多不同形式的社会变革的历史和当代斗争。The Impossible Will Take a Little While 将成为关注社会变革或社会运动的本科和研究生课程的相关补充文本，因为它突出了具有历史和社会意义的个人所克服的斗争。在阅读课文的各个部分后，学生可以在课堂上分成小组，被要求列出当代最令人生畏的社会问题，然后要求从课文中抽取有助于解决问题的例子——解决办法。这样的练习可以创造一种观点，学生可以将其用作生活技能。此外，书中通过个人证词提供的见解将有助于加深学生对重要历史人物（如纳尔逊曼德拉）和社会边缘群体（包括 LGBTQ 社区）的理解。“黑暗岁月”讲述了曼德拉在监狱中的经历，与我产生了个人共鸣，影响了我对我想要引起的变化的看法，包括消除种族不平等和提高对特定社区边缘化的认识。虽然我的个人和学术挑战没有曼德拉那么严重，但我还是意识到在逆境中坚持不懈的重要性。作为一名打算在课堂内外与社会不公作斗争的学者，我选择回顾 The Impossible Will Take a Little While 以寻找灵感。它超出了我的预期。虽然这本书总体上写得很好，但在一些地方有点杂乱无章。例如，有时一篇特定的文章与随后的其他文章脱节。Howard Zinn 的“不确定性的乐观主义”为阅读曼德拉的“黑暗岁月”提供了比目前在它之前的文章更强大的知识背景。然而，这种限制对课文的整体贡献几乎没有影响，可以通过不按顺序分配阅读来纠正，因为这被认为适合个别课程。本书各部分的信息和叙述对于对应用社会学感兴趣的本科生很重要。接触社会运动中主要参与者的个人叙述是必不可少的。学生从过去如何发起变革的历史入门中受益，作为他们如何继续影响今天的变革的指南。本书为读者提供了这样一个视角。可以与本书搭配的一项活动是 Raj Ghoshal (2019) 的“致电您的代表：将课堂学习与现实世界的政策行动联系起来”。这项特殊活动将鼓励针对 Loeb 书中提出的主要问题制定解决问题的策略，因为它要求学生通过就一系列政策问题游说民选官员，将他们学到的知识带入政治领域。这些练习体现了本书的情感并赋予学生权力，从而使不可能变为可能。