White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son
In this completely revised, “Remix” version of his highly-acclaimed memoir, White Like Me, Tim Wise explores how racial identity and whiteness influence the lives of white Americans, by examining how they have impacted his own life. Wise examines what it means to be white in a nation created for the benefit of those who are “white like him,” and how privilege seeps into every institutional arrangement, from education to employment to the justice system. Importantly, he also discusses the ways that white privilege can ultimately harm its recipients in the long run and make progressive social change less likely. Through personal storytelling and convincing analysis, Wise makes the case that racial inequity and white privilege are real and persistent threats to personal and collective well-being, but that resistance to white supremacy and racism is possible.
Praise for White Like Me
James Loewen, best-selling author of Lies My Teacher Told Me, and Sundown Towns calls White Like Me:
“…the most important memoir by a white person about how race and racism affect everyday life since Lois Mark Stalvey’s The Education of a WASP. And, as with Stalvey, after reading Wise, white readers are energized to join the fray and reduce racism in our society.”
Author and long-time liberation activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz calls White Like Me:
“A brilliant and personal deconstruction of institutionalized white supremacy in the United States…It is a beautifully written, heartfelt memoir.”
And Publisher’s Weekly, speaking of the book’s first edition, called it “invigorating.”
