Books White People Need To Read

[Crabtownboy]

Based on an article from The Good Men Project called "Why I Don't Want to Talk About Race" by Steve Locke, this list is a way for white people to learn more about race, whiteness & oppression. It is focused on non-fiction & memoir and comes from an American viewpoint - more are welcome! Please add your ideas in a respectful, open-hearted manner & tell us why you picked the books you added.

"There needs to be discussion among people who think of themselves as white. They need to unpack that language, that history, that social position and see what it really offers them, and what it takes away from them."

This list is for non-fiction & memoir written from a progressive, anti-racist point of view.

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/12546.Books_White_People_Need_To_Read.

 

[Scarlett O.]

I don't understand.

I've read two of those books and excerpts from three others.

Why does reading those books in particular make me more likely to understand my own whiteness than if I have not read them? Steve Locke, the author of the article that lead to this list says that to him, "whiteness is oppression". Funny, I didn't feel like an oppressor when I read what I have read from this list.

I wonder .... has the majority of African American, or Native American, or Asian American read the bulk of this list? If so, are they whiter than me now because they know more about being white than me - according to the compiler of this list?

I don't understand why there is the ignorant assumption by the compiler of this list that white people (a) don't know about these books/haven't or refused to read them and (b) by reading them they will be enlightened as to what being white is all about.

 

[Revmitchell]

So in the liberal mind white people can't know what it is to be black and white people need to be taught what it is to be white.

Only a liberal would think up something that stupid.

 

[Crabtownboy]

I don't understand.

I've read two of those books and excerpts from three others.

Why does reading those books in particular make me more likely to understand my own whiteness than if I have not read them? Steve Locke, the author of the article that lead to this list says that to him, "whiteness is oppression". Funny, I didn't feel like an oppressor when I read what I have read from this list.

Scarlett, is there value in discovering what others think of we whites regardless of whether they think we are great or not so great?

 

[Revmitchell]

If what other people "think of we whites" is founded on political ideology for the sole purpose of gaining power then no. I do not assume that people say and or write things out of sincerity. Power is a worse addiction than gambling or drugs.

 

[Crabtownboy]

If what other people "think of we whites" is founded on political ideology for the sole purpose of gaining power then no. I do not assume that people say and or write things out of sincerity. Power is a worse addiction than gambling or drugs.

 

[Revmitchell]

I will know myself via God and His word not your personal political and racist agenda.

 

[Alcott]

No one needs to read these books to know what they contain, considering the source of the recommendation. Done open the door to self-hatred brainwashing.

 

[matt wade]

"There needs to be discussion among people who think of themselves as white." Am I allowed to think of myself as something else?

 

[Scarlett O.]

Scarlett, is there value in discovering what others think of we whites regardless of whether they think we are great or not so great?

It doesn't take reading these books or any others to understand the "not so great" things that some non-whites people think of my whiteness.

I didn't read what I read for enlightenment on my ethnicity. I read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee because my father and one of my colleagues recommended it. I read Roots as an adult because I had enjoyed the series as a young person and wanted to incorporate the book in my American history classes.

 

[Crabtownboy]

It doesn't take reading these books or any others to understand the "not so great" things that some non-whites people thinks of my whiteness.

But would it not be good to know what is said so you could have time to think over what is said and be able to reply with well thought out rational answers and not with just emotion? It is always better to be informed and to think out issues so that when they are discussed they can be discussed intelligently.

I didn't read what I read for enlightenment on my ethnicity. I read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee because my father and one of my colleagues recommended it. I read Roots as an adult because I had enjoyed the series as a young person and wanted to incorporate the book in my American history classes.

Both those books are well worth reading. Have you read Twelve Years a Slave? The movie was tame compared to the way he was treated in the book he wrote. He did not pursue a political agenda, just reported on what his life was like. The movie did add some fiction to his life, that is showing at least one incident that was not in the book.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was published in 1861. It is an autobiography that documents Jacobs' life as a slave and how she gained freedom for herself and for her children.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is an incredible story. You, I, just about every person alive is better off because of her.

Henrietta Lacks, as HeLa, is known to present-day scientists for her cells from cervical cancer. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells were taken without her knowledge and still live decades after her death. Cells descended from her may weigh more than 50M metric tons.

Black Like Me is a most interesting story of a white man who took medications that turned him dark. He traveled the South as a black man and reported on his experiences. I wish he had also traveled in the North as well. It would have been a good way to compare the two cultures. The book was published in the 1950's. I wish someone would duplicate his experience and update the subject.

The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas is a very interesting historical read.

How the Irish Became White might be of interest to folk of Irish descent. I have not read this one, but it does sound interesting.

I have not read, but it is on my life, Mary Crow Dog's Lakota Woman. She gives a picture of what it was like growing up on a reservation and her rebellion against the aimless drinking, punishing missionary school, narrow strictures for women, and violence and hopeless of reservation life, she joined the new movement of tribal pride sweeping Native American communities in the sixties and seventies.

The Rape of Nanking gives a vivid account of that most horrible massacure of the people of Nanking by the Japanese in WW II. I have a Chinese friend who was fortunate in that he survived that event. He was just a little kid in Nanking at that time.

There well could be others you would find that would be good to add to the American history class. I am sure you would find some that you would not include.

 

[Dan Todd]

The Emmaus Code by David Limbaugh - excellent book - well written - leaves no question the Christ is in the Old Testament !!!