White Lies: Race and the Myths of Whiteness

by Maurice Berger

The acclaimed work that debunks our myths and false assumptions about race in America

Maurice Berger grew up hypersensitized to race in the charged environment of New York City in the sixties. His father was a Jewish liberal who worshiped Martin Luther King, Jr.; his mother a dark-skinned Sephardic Jew who hated black people. Berger himself was one of the few white kids in his Lower East Side housing project.

Berger's unusual experience--and his determination to examine the subject of race for its multiple and intricate meanings--makes White Lies a fresh and startling book.

Berger has become a passionate observer of race matters, searching out the subtle and not-so-subtle manifestations of racial meaning in everyday life. In White Lies , he encourages us to reckon with our own complex and often troubling opinions about race. The result is an uncommonly honest and affecting look at race in America today--free of cant, surprisingly entertaining, unsettled and unsettling.

Genres: Race, Nonfiction, Social Justice, Memoir, History

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[sydney]

This is a great book about race, especially whiteness. It's written in very short chunks of just a few pages each, and it reads almost like a conversation among all of these different voices: Berger's own, his friends', and other authors'. Often, quotes from different people on similar topics lay side-by-side for comparison or layering. Berger is really honest about confronting his own racism. Recommended as an intro to white studies or a conversation starter.

[sedge]

I can be pretty leery of using memoir in place of analysis, but this book moves really gracefully between personal anecdote and extended, careful critique. Highly recommended, not least because Berger includes class consciousness as a significant element.

[Batya]

...improving race relations in America to encourage self-inquiry on the most personal, rather than the most public, level....

[Krista]

A good overview of white racism and race relations in the US. It's a little outdated now, but a good starting point for talking about race with white people.

[KDawg]

Interesting to read something published in the 90s, before mass proliferation of the internet. This was written while I was in high school, and much of what he writes is sadly still true to this day. Some readers may not like the back and forth between personal stories and the writings of others; I found that drove my need to read. It also exposed me to some writings I had not yet seen. Definitely will add to your “woke” reading list. I find his fearless self discovery revelatory, and an important read. We must not fear the race discussion, we must be fearless and ready to face that festering wound! I for one find this book to help me with my own wounds, my own prejudices, and my own path forward! #blacklivesmatter

[Rosalind]

This is a lovely little book even though it deals with the difficult and disturbing topic of racism in America. It is a compilation of short reflections on the subject that make it easy to digest. He's disarmingly honest about his personal background as a white, Jewish, gay man who grew up poor, and how all of that contributed to his awareness of and his involvement in his work against racism. In addition he cites a mix of quotes from well known authors as well as from ordinary people describing their own experiences and ideas. Given when the book was published (1999), Berger was way ahead of most of us in terms of awareness of how racism plays out today and how we might deal with its ongoing destructiveness.

[Jane Gillette]

A good and reflective book about the role and the “worth” of whiteness and race in America. I enjoyed this book and really liked the way it was laid out - with lots of stories throughout, all from different points of view.

Favorite quote: “only the personal, everyday choices I make in the world of racial interactions, not some abstract or ritualistic gesture of apologizing or of being forgiven, will really make a difference”

[Maryann]

Rather dated,the book is an honest exploration of racism in the 1990’s. It describes another point in US history where we as a country could have tried to be better. The author gives lots of examples of white racism both conscious and unconscious and how whites never confront it and it never goes away. The book has a hopeful aspect to it with President Clinton and Colin Powell offered as moral leaders who can demonstrate a better way. Unfortunately, we know how that turns out.

[Alex Myers]

Really helpful as I prepare to teach/talk to students and colleagues about race. Some chapters in here feel dated, especially for students (references to events they won't know about). The feel of the book is fragmentary and some of those fragments are brilliant, while others didn't resonate with me (felt incomplete).

[David Brown]

Understated. Poignant and unflinching

[Adrienne]

Really good.

[James Steichen]

Almost twenty years old this quite prescient book helped me understand how the extreme Whiteness of the various humanities canons has done so much damage. A short but powerful read!

[puck]

i always begin a little distrustful of white folks writing books All About Race, but this collection of vignettes was surprisingly wise. good as a platform to get people thinking - if not much beyond that? maybe it's just me stuck at an introductory level, and not the things i'm reading.

[sarrin]

this is a quick read that i liked. kinda of a memoir that takes countless diversions into other people's stories and experiences with white privilege, white supremacy, class and Judaism.

[Brad]

Interesting insights into our societies racism.

[Miranda]

A great collection of thoughts, testimonies and experiences on race. Well edited and very thoughtfully collated.

[Sadé]

This was an interesting book.