Overview
A New York times notable book of the year, A Washington post notable nonfiction book of the year, A Boston globe best book of 2016, A Chicago review of books best nonfiction book of 2016, Since 1865 and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, every time African Americans have made advances towards full participation in our democracy, white reaction has fueled a deliberate, relentless rollback of any gains. Carefully linking historical flashpoints-from the post-Civil War Black Codes to expressions of white rage after the election of America's first black president-Anderson renders visible the long lineage of white rage and the different names under which it hides. Compelling and dramatic in the unimpeachable history it relates, White Rage adds a vital new dimension to the national conversation about race in America. Book jacket.
Professional Reviews
"[ 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
"[A] slim but persuasive volume . . . 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
"There''s a book called White Rage by Carol Anderson about a history that most Americans don''t know: the history of oppression that African Americans have faced from the Civil War to the present day. If every American read it, maybe we could really begin to have a conversation about race in America." - Senator Al Franken, in answer to the question,
"What''s the one book you wish all Americans would read right now?", New York Times Book Review
"[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
"It''s shocking, beautifully written, and, with white supremacy knocking on the White House door, more important than ever. Some books are great, some books are essential. White Rage is the latter." - Ed Yong, The Millions
"Powerful . . . Like a meticulous prosecutor assembling her case, Anderson lays out a profoundly upsetting vision of an America driven to waves of reactionary white anger whenever it''s confronted with black achievement." - Bookforum
"Bracing . . . It might all seem very conspiratorial and cloak-and-dagger, were it not also true. Reading through all the frightfully inventive ways in which America makes racial inequality a matter of law (and order) has a dizzying effect: like watching a quick-cut montage of social injustice spanning nearly half a millennium." - The Globe and Mail
"[F]or readers who want to understand the sense of grievance and pain that many African Americans feel today, White Rage offers a clearly written and well-thought-out overview of an aspect of U.S. history with which the country is still struggling to come to terms." - Foreign Affairs
"Prescient . . . provides necessary perspective on the racial conflagrations in the U.S." - Kirkus Reviews
"Anderson''s mosaic of white outrage deserves contemplation by anyone interested in understanding U.S. race relations, past and present." - Library Journal
"[An] engaging, thought-provoking work . . . Anderson''s clear, ardent prose detailing the undermining of America''s stated ideals and democratic norms is required reading for anyone interested in the state of American social discourse." - Booklist
"Few historians write with the grace, clarity, and intellectual verve Carol Anderson summons in this book. We are tethered to history, and with White Rage , Anderson adeptly highlights both that past and the tenacious grip race holds on the present. There is a handful of writers whose work I consider indispensable. Professor Anderson is high up on that list." - William Jelani Cobb, author of THE SUBSTANCE OF HOPE
" White Rage is a harrowing account of our national history during the century and a half since the Civil War--even more troubling for what it exposes about our present, our deep and abiding racial divide. This is necessary reading for anyone interested in understanding--and perfecting--our union." - Natasha Trethewey, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for NATIVE GUARD and Two-term Poet Laureate of the United States
"To overcome our racial history, Americans must first learn our racial history--as it truly and painfully happened. This powerful book is the place to start." - David Von Drehle, author of RISE TO GREATNESS: ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND AMERICA''S MOST PERILOUS YEAR
