Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil: My Life and Times in a Racist, Imperialist Society

by Inga Muscio

It's just called history, asserts Inga Muscio in her newest book. In fact, the controversial author continues, the so-called history we learn in school is no more than a brand, developed by white men who, often unjustly, won the right to spin their stories as hard facts. With Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil, it's Muscio's turn and she's taking it in order to hip the masses to the truth about the American history they think they know. Whose country is it? Has democracy ever really existed? Why does our culture celebrate certain figures and ignore others? Do schools teach kids to perpetuate white supremacist ideologies? Muscio delves deep to answer these questions, marveling at how personal history is to everyone, while challenging people to expand their thinking on America's past and encouraging them to consider how their own histories might read.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, History, Race, Memoir, Anti Racist, Biography

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 10, 2005

Reviews

[Ciara · Rating 1 out of 5]

this is by the same lady who wrote cunt, another book i read & found very questionable & of factual dubiousness. as much as i disliked cunt, though, it didn't even come close to howmuch i hated, detested, & loathed this book. HATED IT. worst piece of shit ever. supposedly it's about inga muscio's relationship with benefiting from white privilege in the imperalistic united states, but instead, it was 500 pages of her patting herself on the back for having spent five minutes thinking about race. she is a total wingnut & someone needs to take away her pen & computer to spare us all. she says you shouldn't spay/neuter your pets (which has to do with race or imperialism...how, exactly?) because it deprives them of reproductive chouce. *headdesk* she seems to think she's awesome because she spends "every minute of every day thinking about the war in iraq". good job, inga. the power of your thoughts really brought the war machine to a shuddering halt. she is the worst possible example of the kind of smug liberal bullshit i can't stand. only read this book if you want to be filled with rage, or maybe if you're really dim-witted & need the most basic aspects of institutionalized racism & american imperialism explained to you in bite-sized pieces.

[Colin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book really had me going for about three quarters of the way...I like muscio's style--crass, conversational and funny. She does a great job connecting theory with her personal experience in an engaging way, and there are some great things about the book because of that. However, there is gratingly typical ableism throughout the book, such as using the word "retarded" as a pejorative, using "people in wheelchairs" as the stock disabled people, and generally approaching disability with a tragic and despairing air. That was annoying, but she totally and completely lost me right near the end of the book, when she's trying to argue about enviromental/animal rights and actually has the gall to compare the "owning" of a housecat with chattel slavery. Are you fucken kidding me? Unfortunately she carries out this inexcusable metaphor in full. Um, no.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books that basically sums up a lot of what I think about everyday in regards to how this society treats people. This is a great book and it is an interesting read. It turned me on to some writers and activists I haven't heard of before. I also learned about Charles Drew, a black man who invented the blood plasma preservation process which revolutionized medicine. He was working for the Red Cross and quit when they made it a policy to not accept blood from non-whites due to fear of racial mixing. I highly recommend this book to people who think this country is messed up or who enjoy history or sociology but don't like dry reads. She is a fierce writer and I look forward to reading "Cunt".

The author writes with a casual conversational tone which I like but most of the material I knew already. She talks up Howard Zinn and James Loewen a lot which if someone hasn't read them, they would be better off there.

However, I don't really know who her audience is because she is really preaching to the choir here. She makes it seem like many liberals, feminists, radicals, what-have-you don't recognize how racism is at the core of so much of this culture. I don't know that I have experienced that. Most people who are conscious see the racism. I also think her anecdotes are weak and read a little false. Still good stuff even if it offers little in the way of solutions.

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember reading this for the first time about 9 years ago and I loved the material that she introduced to me (because I was young and angry). But now I really can't help but refute many of the statements that Muscio makes in this book. Another reviewer on here accused Muscio of fetishizing other cultures and I think that this is absolutely true. (*Spoilers ahead*) I think one of her assertions was that Native Americans didn't know what rape was until Europeans introduced it to them... huh? (The Inca would take Maca in warfare, which increases energy and sex drive, and women whose tribes were conquered had to be protected from rape because of Maca's effect on the virility of the warriors). As someone with Native American blood I was offended... and if I was white, I would be offended, too. There are many personal anecdotes in this book, which I thought made her arguments even weaker (read Citizen by Claudia Rankine instead, who uses many personal anecdotes that tie her work together more effectively!!) And to make matters worse, she criticizes Harry Potter for encouraging slavery and racism. Yes, somehow Muscio manages to make the inspiring Potter series into a hate-mongering manifesto, claiming that the house elves' affinity for housework equals Rowling's justification for speciesism and racism. Which, when I read the books, was the last thing that my brain would ever have thought up.

I love her writing style, but I often questioned the personal anecdotes (such as the man on the plane who was playing with the child and whom Muscio accused of being a pervert) simply because Muscio made a lot of assumptions in those experiences. She assumes many things. I guess this is my main issue with this book. She assumes the thoughts and actions of those around her; she also assumes a position of authority of white America and even of the voiceless minorities and poor.

I am grateful for the issues that she raised in Autobiography; however, she always seems to exclude "majority" groups in her work... In Cunt, she excluded men and straight women (by promoting "Cunt love" but never really addresses "heteronormative" love) and in this book, she excludes white men and women, and even HARRY POTTER FANS!! Sure, this is a book about the negative "white" normative influence on the lives of minorities in America and on non-white nations in the world, but the evidence to show this was, at times, a little too farfetched.

[Raymond J · Rating 2 out of 5]

The information is great, but her tone constantly got on my nerves. Yes, I get it, you're a righteous white person.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inga is back and just as controversial as ever!

Inga's "Autobiography" provides a close examination of the history lessons that are shoved down our throats in a white male supremacist society. Not unlike Cunt: A Declaration of Independence, Inga's latest work is brutally honest and critical of the state of our society and how it shapes the rest of the world. Inga definitely has a penchant for calling bullshit on racist, sexist, and imperialist behaviour; and, as a fellow blue-eyed devil, I think unflinching honesty about the gross cruelty in our world is long overdue.

[Jasmine]

The amount of white tears in the reviews tho

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't finished this book yet, but I cannot wait to get my hands on it again! I borrowed it from friends while I was staying at their house and sadly had to leave it there when I left. She uses language that strips away all the bullshit and gets down to the reality of situations that most of us would prefer to remain confused about because they bring up the very nature of society as we know it. She recommends Eduardo Galeano a few times and I have since picked up a book of his called Upside Down a primer for the Looking Glass world. Still working on another one in the meantime. I'll post his when I get to reading it! Enjoy Inga though...highly recommend her work.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giving two dogs one bone is a great way to control a population of people who have been beaten down into believing that they are dogs.
p99

I do not understand how a country can base its identity on freedom when so many of its people are not now, and have never been, free.
p183

[Julie Capell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Important for shining a huge, unforgiving spotlight on the many ways US society props up white male power and how its white citizens do not question how things actually work. The beginning chapters on history do a good job of hitting the "greatest hits" of how the US has consistently and systematically undermined democracy and human rights all over the world. I already knew most of this information, but for someone who is new to the topic, I would recommend the "1619 Project" (published after Muscio's book came out) and "The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles & Their Secret World War."

What differentiates this book from most others I have read are the autobiographical stories Muscio uses to reflect on the facts she presents. I didn't necessarily agree with all the assertions she makes in the more personal passages, however I could feel her passion, anger and sadness about the situation the world is in. Maybe if more of us got angry, we'd actually get out there and do something about it.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muscio may be flawed, but much of this book holds up in 2021 as a postcolonial critique of American society into and beyond the Busch years. Muscio's tone will create a barrier with many readers, yet her core audience, American readers who identify with counter-culture, may easily overlook Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil's flaws in favor of its anti-racist message. This is not a scholarly book. One should not look to this as an authoritative text on American history or critical race theory in isolation, but Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil emphasizes the significance both play in enabling individuals to perceive the institutions that structure American society.

[Chad Montabon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love a good rant and this is 538 pages of angry. It veers off topic and, like most rants becomes repetitive at times, but in general it is an enjoyable little tome.

It did refer me to a couple other books that have made it to my TBR, which makes it worth the time investment, but it didn't move the needle for me. I am guilty in her eyes of horrors that dare not be spoken. I have failed, time and again, to fervently enough accept the current orthodoxy on all things, at all times from birth 'til now.

[MJane Hewett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for men and women alike.

[Leigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

So smart.

[Felicia Manso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now is the time to read this book. Knowledge is power and Muscio's words will empower and enlighten you.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've thought a lot about what to say about this book.

I discovered Inga Muscio because of Cunt, which was a hugely inspiring book that, while I'm not sure I could recommend it to everyone, I was really happy to have read. When I wanted to read up on white supremacy, I found Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil and I thought, since I was familiar with Muscio and liked her, that it would be a good place to start.

This book mostly suffers because she never decided who her audience is.

If her audience was bigoted, mired white people who need some sort of insight, the tone would drive them off pretty much immediately.

If her intended audience was self-conscious white people who are vaguely aware of the problems around them but who want a more nuanced insight in book-form, this really doesn't cut it. Most of this book is an introduction to institutionalized racism. She brings up a lot of important issues, but doesn't delve very deeply into them. I consider myself uneducated on this topic, but still knew most of the history that she goes into. In fact, I can't help but feel like it would have been more productive to read "A People's History" instead. Toward the beginning of Autobiography, Muscio even gives a list of authors, then says, (paraphrasing) "if you didn't recognize any of these names, you are part of the problem." She then never elaborates or discusses why they are important. I get it, I'm supposed to look them up, but seriously? Why does she think I bought the book?

If her audience was the already hyper-educated on the topic, then why write the book at all? She shares no real new information, and it would just come off as gratuitous.

There were sections that I genuinely appreciated. Her section on police violence was well-considered and held up very well to the issues going on today, ten years after the book was published.

It's not that everything in the book is bad or not worth reading, it just comes off as half baked sometimes.

Muscio's writing shines especially when she writes her personal anecdotes, which is part of what made Cunt resonate so much with me. Her anecdotes here, though, seem awkward and contrived. She writes about insignificant moments in her life that she adds significance too--the time she was buying things at a drug store and the white cashier was acting suspicious of three teens who walked in, she assumes, because of their race. The problem with anecdotes like this is that they are pure conjecture on her part. She can't know what that cashier was thinking, and indeed, she didn't ask. That doesn't make for a powerful story. The rest of her anecdotes are secondhand tales she's heard via her friends, so those don't really have much weight to them, either. In fact, this book would have been amazing had she done something like interview those friends or invite them to write segments for her book, instead of sharing them in watered-down form through her own filter as a white woman.

In fact, the last 50 pages of Autobiography was the most gripping, and I have a feeling it was because she was back on her home turf of gender and generalized liberal thought told via her own personal stories. This book made me think more about veganism than it did my own role in white supremacist racism. Which doesn't mean I'm absolved, it just means I have to take my education elsewhere.

[Danni Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an important book. It took me through every imaginable emotion about the world in which we live. I was worried I would come away feeling beaten down and hopeless, but by the end of the book I felt the strength the author draws from to channel the rage that fuels this book.

There are certainly things I wish she had done differently. I'm not on board at all with her use of "retard(ed)" or her weak justification (in the glossary, where she claims there is no other term in English that accomplishes what this word does, something which is almost never true of the ever-expansive English language and certainly isn't true in this case). I was frustrated by the limited and underresearched representation of people with disabilities -- other reviewers have articulated this point well -- and by her continual use of gender-binaristic language like "brothers and sisters" and "women, children, and men" even in the section where she says she is explicitly trying to name people of other genders. Also, she cites the Daily Mail (a UK tabloid) in one place as if it were a legitimate news source, which is disappointing because I know a LOT of the information she includes in this book is accurate and well-sourced, and so to include a Daily Mail excerpt alongside all the legitimate sources undermines the reliability of her research.

Overall, my feelings about this book are similar to my feelings about her most recent book, Rose, so I'll just quote from my review of that book: "I love how the author does not shy away from truth, but pulls the reader into deep recognition of the things that happen in the world from which we'd rather look away. It was difficult to read some of the things she needed to share, but until we live in a world where those things don't happen, I'm glad that there are people like Inga Muscio who have the courage to scream and shout about them."

[Becks · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is quite intriguing to me, seeing all the complexities of life that I would not have seen were it not for my most recent read. While flying from Houston to Sea-Tac on the Fourth of July, I was able to finish a book by my personal bodhisattva (though I am quite convinced that she would be repulsed by that title), Inga Muscio. The book, entitled, Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil : My Life and Times in a Racist, Imperialist Society is an eye-opening, no holds barred book about the racism and white imperialism that is slapping us in the ass and spitting in our eyes.
As with her other books, this brings up deeply complicated feelings that hover between rage and despondent sadness. During my reading of her work, I maintained a love-hate relationship (and everything in-between) with what she wrote. There were many times that ever after a sentence or two, I had to throw the book down and stew in my own thoughts about what she had just slapped me in the face with.
In my experience, there has never been another author that has been so in-your-face and upfront about the reality that you, I and every other person in this country experiences every day. Whether you are from the suburbs to the ghettos, the country-clubs to the barrios, this book is for you. Inga speaks, encompassing the whole of society and not just a niche that is easy to aim for.
Like her other books, Love and Cunt, this book speaks to you in a way that is rare for a writer to achieve. I would suggest this book for anyone, no matter your background.

[Janel G. B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Inga Muscio is clearly a very intelligent and thoughtful woman. I enjoyed her previous book, Cunt, but this one.... this one was more like grueling work to get through. Took me several months to finish!

Her writing style frustrated me beyond belief in this one. It worked out okay for Cunt, since the main idea of the book was more apparent (Cunts! Womankind! Love yourself and yes, your cunt, and don't be oppressed!) but in Autobiography I banged my head against the book. Inga would start talking about terrible fact about inner-city gangs and just as I was getting very interested she would stop writing, skip a few lines, and start a new semi-story about her personal life.

It felt like a blog. Heck, if this were a blog, I would definitely read it. But I was expecting a book. I was expecting a book with a main idea and a thesis. I've finished the book and while I've learned more about different cultures and subgroups in the USA (especially about gang members and incarcerated folk) and I've learned more about Inga's personal life, there is no overlying message lingering in my head. It is all a soupy mix of all the short semi-stories Inga threw in here.

I was frustrated, to say the least.

[Kellyann · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book has me all fired up! IM does an awesome job of making you take all the things you think you know (and are okay with) and pointing out how sick they really are. why do we, as a country, celebrate people like Columbus? Why does the default of most comments we make imply whiteness unless we specifically state otherwise? Why do people willing sit through hours of tv a day which amounts to not much more than indoctrination in all the things those in power want us to believe? It's unpatriotic to question anything about the way our country operates, despite the serious atrocities, foreign and domestic, that are committed day in and day out under the leadership of the same sorts of people that have always been in power (and they aren't minorities or women). i'd really love to find some more recent commentary (this book is from 2005) by IM regarding her thoughts on the Obama era. I fear that things haven't really changed that much, but i'd love to hear her (much more thoroughly researched) take on the situation. don't take my ridiculously simple and condensed opinion on this, read the book!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I could enjoy and appreciate this book, I feel that there are other authors/books that explain the idea of white privilege better. I would recommend that The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege by Robert Jenson or White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son by Tim Wise be read before diving into this very radical book by Musico. So, this is a great book to read if you have some knowledge on the subject, unless you are open to very extreme attitudes without a lot of background. I found that this straight forward and in your face writing style is thought provoking regardless of if you agree with her statements.

[sylas · Rating 2 out of 5]

In 2007, this book amazed me. It helped that it was given to me by a dear friend shortly before she died. In the spirit of keeping my former self (in all my baby-rad glory) alive, I'm not going to delete my review below. But know that I don't feel so great about this book these days and that I think Colin does a great job of summing up why.

"This book is great and, in my opinion, should be required reading for any dominant-culture enmeshed or newly "normative"-critical white person in this country. Inga sets a good example by examining the ways in which she is complicit in the racist, imperialist society in which many of us live. This book is about taking responsibility and owning ones mistakes.

Though I have some critiques of this book, on the whole I thought it was well done. Examination of ones own prvilege and fucked-upness is, in my opinion, always a lovely idea."

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

My awareness is 1009 times bigger than before i picked this book up. Inga pushes and pushes and pushes and admits she fucks up and pushes some more. I see my thoughts, actions, and "environment" differently now- reminding me why i read.
My sis and I brought this with us to South Africa last year and couldn't start this book while we were there "because of the intensity of that country". A year of some crazy soul searching inside AmeriKKka, i forced my self to see it through. like meditating, reading this book made me want to run - a lot. But then i would remember that it's all about just watching my own reactions to the truths she shares related to my history, my privilege, my country. She totally changes the color of reality for me with everything she writes. that's the point, eh?

[tamarack · Rating 4 out of 5]

muscio's work is a bit like a book-on-tape: her voice just jumps off the pages. it's really accessible and easy to follow while being honest in a loud and voracious way. i think inga is a good place to look for politics if you are scared off by genre-defined analyses or up-one's-own-arsedness. and though muscio deals with very painful subjects, it is somehow fun to read. the main focus is racism, but the critique intersects many aspects of gender, class, and environment. this is a volume of thought that manages to speak brutal truths against the usa's patriarchal-racist-capitalist hierarchy/slave-system while taking time to champion enjoyment of other social phenomenon that exist as they exist only in the states. she's a bit of a paradox and she's all her own. shell out the few quid and buy this book, cause you won't be disappointed.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Skip this book. If you are tempted to buy it, head to the bibliography and read those books. Like the author I am white, progressive, and queer. Unlike the author, I don't need to self-congratulate about how fucken awesome I am because I recognize how shitty the world is to everyone.

This book deviates every chance possible from the main thesis so the author can congratulate herself on how far she has come.

Please, please read the actual works of the people that this author has designated herself speaker of. One Audre Lorde essay is priceless compared to this book.

p.s. I loved Cunt, the author's other book. But this is just the over her head and doesn't want to get it bullshit writing.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not an easy read. It took me almost two years, I think, between when I started and finished this book.

Inga does not sugar coat. She makes you look and whiteness and privilege and all the messed up things going on in our world. This book educated me, made me really think,broke my heart, made me want to read 100 other books, learn 100 more biographies, questions everything and appreciate with all my heart the tiniest things that I already love and those that I don't.

A great follow up to Cunt, but not so much a follow up as a new part of examining all that is really going on in our world.

[Amberdookie]

Inga made me feel even more awesome about myself in "Cunt" and makes me feel even more full of resentment for myself in "autobiography of a blue-eyed devil"

I am reading it, and when I am finished, I plan on going through it again to make note of every book and person she writes about within it, so that I may research them.

UPDATE

I was skipping ahead and read some parts that made me think Inga is TOTALLY OFF HER ROCKER.

In some of her documented interactions with white people she comes across as a profoundly mentally disturbed. Or just a generally shitty person.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have any shred of social, ethical, or moral consciousness, then you MUST read this stunning treatise of a book. Discussions of racism, deforestation, consumerism, sexism, the lie that is "History", imperialism, holocausts through out time all over the globe, environmentalism, current affairs, how the media lies to you, and more. The second book by the author of "Cunt" is just as completely mind-blowing and righteous-anger-inducing as the first.

[thetinyshiloh · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldnt finish this basically because I can't get past the irony of a white woman going on and on about white privilege (on topics I honestly already know about) in a book she subsequently profits from. I'd much rather go to an author who personally experiences the oppressions and marginalizations Inga talks about than give my money to her. Kind of a hypocrite when you think about it.

I also agree with other reviewers on her ableism and her slight fetishization of other cultures.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think I really need to get too deeply into my review ... simply enough, Muscio pushes further and deeper into her own psyche and our society's reliance on racism and imperialism as control and devaluation than in her previous book, Cunt, which used feminism as its critical lens. Raw and rude as usual, Muscio never bows to fear. And I just love her.