Davin Phoenix’s The Anger Gap: How Race Shapes Emotions in Politics contributes to the literatures on behavior, affect, and race in American politics. His aims are made clear in chapter 1, where he says, “[T]he main endeavor of this book is…to offer a framework for assessing how racial differences in emotion translate into racial disparities in political participation” (5). Phoenix claims there is an “anger gap” between Black and white Americans that explains differences in campaign tactics, political mobilization, and political attitudes in the Black community. Chapter 1 lays out an elegant framework describing the divergent emotional experiences facing Black and white Americans. Phoenix’s main point, beyond laying out the plan for the book, is that the risks for being “angry while Black” in American culture are significant and ever-present. Given this widespread understanding, particularly among African Americans, it is clear anger may not be the emotional path to political...

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