A Race is a Nice Thing to Have
A Race is a Nice Thing to Have: A Guide to Being a White Person or Understanding the White Persons in Your Life by Janet E. Helms.
The classic book on race and racism is once again available. This book is designed to help White people assume responsibility for ending racism, understand how racism impacts Whites as well as others, analyze racism, and discover positive alternatives for living in a multicultural society. Many self-analysis exercises and instruments enrich the text.
From the preface:
“For racism to disappear in the United States, White people must take the responsibility for ending it. For them to assume that responsibility, they must become aware of how racism hurts White people and consequently, how ending it serves White people’s best interests. Moreover, this awareness not only must be accompanied by enhanced abilities to recognize the many faces of racism, but also by the discovery of options to replace it.”
I’ve not read thjs one yet, but the other day I found a great book, Understanding White Privilege, by Kendall. I peeked through it – it looks great – and very firmly set it aside to read after I finish my thesis!
Outside the bounds of academic literature (and firmly within the realm of chick lit) is a novel called Plain Brown Wrapper, which is written from an African-American perspective and for me has provided a valuable peek through the shield of my own race privilege.
An alternative to ordering books from an online corporate giant is abebooks.com, the online presence of a huge number of independent new and used booksellers all over the country.
Michelle Marie
30 Jul 07 at 4:13 pm
Michelle – Thanks for giving me some more books to add to my summer reading list
I’ll have to check out abebooks.com….
Eric Stoller
2 Aug 07 at 10:10 am