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"With a new preface and updated chapters, White Like Me is part memoir, part polemical essay collection. It is a personal examination of the way in which racial privilege shapes the daily lives of white Americans in every realm: employment, education, housing, criminal justice, and elsewhere. Using stories from his own life, Tim Wise demonstrates the ways in which racism not only burdens people of color, but also benefits, in relative terms, those who are 'white like him.' He discusses how racial privilege can harm whites in the long run and make progressive social change less likely. He explores the ways in which whites can challenge their unjust privileges, and explains in clear and convincing language why it is in the best interest of whites themselves to do so. Using anecdotes instead of stale statistics, Wise weaves a narrative that is at once readable and yet scholarly, analytical and yet accessible."--Back cover.… (more)
User reviews
This book is what it sounds like it should be, a memoir about
I loved this book, from beginning to end. This should be no surprise, given how much I love Wise's essays online. I intend to read some of his other books, though I'd really love it if he wrote a more practical primer on anti-racism. He does include a section on action in this book, but the most impressive examples of how to effectively talk to people about privilege seem to require a much deeper understanding of issues like welfare, unemployment, the economy, that I just don't have. And are certainly not the dominant narrative in society -- it's the stuff that those who make money off of the disparity between the rich and the poor don't want you to know! So how does the average person, for whom anti-racism is one of a number of issues they are committed to, go about educating themselves? Where to start?