Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority (City Lights Open Media)

"Sparing neither family nor self . . . he considers how the deck has always been stacked in his and other white people's favor. . . . His candor is invigorating."—Publishers Weekly

"One of the most brilliant, articulate and courageous critics of white privilege in the nation."—Michael Eric Dyson

White Americans have long been comfortable in the assumption that they are the cultural norm. Now that notion is being challenged, as white people wrestle with what it means to be part of a fast-changing, truly multicultural nation. Facing chronic economic insecurity, a popular culture that reflects the nations diverse cultural reality, a future in which they will no longer constitute the majority of the population, and with a black president in the White House, whites are growing anxious.

This anxiety has helped to create the Tea Party movement, with its call to "take our country back." By means of a racialized nostalgia for a mythological past, the Right is enlisting fearful whites into its campaign for reactionary social and economic policies.

In urgent response, Tim Wise has penned his most pointed and provocative work to date. Employing the form of direct personal address, he points a finger at whites race-based self-delusion, explaining how such an agenda will only do harm to the nations people, including most whites. In no uncertain terms, he argues that the hope for survival of American democracy lies in the embrace of our multicultural past, present and future.

Tim Wise is one of the most prominent antiracist essayists, educators, and activists in the United States. He is regularly interviewed by A-list media, including CNN, C-SPAN, The Tavis Smiley Show, The Tom Joyner Morning Show, Michael Eric Dyson's radio program, and many more. His most recent books include Colorblind and Between Barack and a Hard Place.

"Sparing neither family nor self . . . he considers how the deck has always been stacked in his and other white people's favor. . . . His candor is invigorating."—Publishers Weekly

"One of the most brilliant, articulate and courageous critics of white privilege in the nation."—Michael Eric Dyson

The old notion that "being white means never having to think about it" is being challenged on all fronts as whites are increasingly having to wrestle with what it means to be part of a fast-changing, culturally diverse nation. In Dear White America Tim Wise directly addresses white people's growing concerns about political, cultural, and community-level shifts displacing their power and privilege. Wise examines the perfect storm of events fueling white anxiety: the election of a black president, economic insecurity at a level unseen by whites as a group in seventy-five years, a popular culture that reflects the nation's growing multicultural reality, and demographic shifts that make it increasingly difficult for whites—who have long been able to see themselves as the prototypical American—to continue to view themselves as the norm. Through stories, anecdotes, and analysis, Wise taps current trends and addresses how to move forward as a unified, diverse, and vibrant democracy.

Tim Wise is one of the most prominent antiracist essayists, educators, and activists in the United States. He is regularly interviewed by A-list media, including CNN, C-SPAN, The Tavis Smiley Show, The Tom Joyner Morning Show, Michael Eric Dyson's radio program, and many more. His most recent books include Colorblind and Between Barack and a Hard Place.