★ 2018-07-30
"It is time to rethink America."
Adapted from Anderson's bestselling White Rage (2016), this book summons young people to bear witness to the devastatingly expansive strategies white citizens have taken up to preserve the racialized violence that emerged from the founding of the nation. What is white rage? White rage works "subtly, almost imperceptibly" in American halls of power, utilizing an array of policy assaults, legal contortions, and physical violence to punish black resolve and block efforts toward full and equal citizenship. Anderson writes in an accessible narrative form, showing young people through pivotal historical events the ways in which white rage has been able to effectively undermine black-led social movements for equality and justice. It begins with the rise of the 19th-century Black Codes and the emergence of Jim Crow during the betrayal of Reconstruction. It continues into the Great Migration, when many black families chose to move North for opportunities and were met with extreme racist violence from white hate groups. The text carries us up to the current president and is enhanced by archival photographs. In her foreword, celebrated young adult author Nic Stone (Odd One Out, 2018, etc.) reminds us that it's not just about exposing the roots of American racism, but what we do about it now.
Revealing our racialized past and arguing that we must refashion our nation in pursuit of a new, beloved, and just society. (discussion guide, sources, resources, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)
. . . [D]ocuments centuries of techniques designed to limit progress in the black community. Although some of the material may be upsetting, this is a book that should absolutely be included in the curriculum.” —Starred review, School Library Connection
“[A]n accessible narrative form, showing young people through pivotal historical events the ways in which white rage has been able to effectively undermine black-led social movements for equality and justice.” —Starred review, Kirkus Reviews
“. . . [A] well-articulated and neatly contextualized examination of the roots of American racism . . .” —VOYA
“A sobering primer on the myriad ways African American resilience and triumph over enslavement, Jim Crow and intolerance have been relentlessly defied by the very institutions entrusted to uphold our democracy.” —Washington Post
“[White Rage] is an extraordinarily timely and urgent call to confront the legacy of structural racism bequeathed by white anger and resentment, and to show its continuing threat to the promise of American democracy.” —Editor's Choice, New York Times Book Review
“White Rage is a riveting and disturbing history that begins with Reconstruction and lays bare the efforts of whites in the South and North alike to prevent emancipated black people from achieving economic independence, civil and political rights, personal safety, and economic opportunity.” —The Nation
“An unflinching look at America's long history of structural and institutionalized racism, White Rage is a timely and necessary examination of white anger and aggression towards black America . . . A compelling look at American history, White Rage has never seemed more relevant than it does today.” —Bustle, “17 Books On Race Every White Person Needs To Read”
“White Rage belongs in a place of honor on the shelf next to other seminal books about the African-American experience such as James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time, Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns, and Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow.” —Santa Barbara Independent
“[A] powerful survey of American history as seen in the violent white reactions to black progress, from Reconstruction to the great migration to the current political landscape.” —Boston Globe
“Anderson has shown, with her well-sourced (she has several hundred detailed footnotes) and readable book, why the fights over race and access to the perquisites of American citizenship grind on . . . White Rage lends perspective and insight for those of us who are willing to confront, study and learn from the present situation in this country.” —St. Louis Dispatch
“In every episode of White Rage Anderson amplifies and elongates this initial claim [white America's seething resistance to African Americans' sociopolitical advancements] into a striking argument about the nation's failure to recognize African Americans as full members the citizenry. Though stretching a stand-alone essay into an extended study doesn't work very often, White Rage operates efficiently and elegantly, offering readers new intelligence about American experience. Following Anderson, one gains insight by accrual.” —Lit Hub
