Caryl Phillips. THE EUROPEAN TRIBE (Picador, #4.99).

* THIS slim volume of traveller's tales might be retitled Journeys

With A Shoulder Chip, and is written proof that being black doesn't mean

that you can't be an intellectual and social snob. The author brandishes

his education and status like a club, and his text is littered with

snide digs at people who have committed no offence other than to fall

under his fastidious gaze. He thinks that wearing a shell suit should be

a criminal offence.

His thesis is that Western Europe is riddled with racism -- which is

almost certainly true, but not reliably to be deduced from the author's

own experiences, which can all too credibly be explained in terms of

people simply not caring for the author or his attitude. The vignettes

of Casablanca, Paris, and other stops on his tour of resentment are

occasionally insightful, but permeating the book is Caryl Phillips's

belief that these places should be cleaner, happier, and nicer because

he is there. He tries to hold up a mirror to the face of European

tribalism but succeeds only in showing us his own ego.