The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself: Racial Myths and Our American Narratives

by David Mura

Uncovering the pernicious narratives white people create to justify white supremacy and sustain racist oppression

The police murders of two Black men, Philando Castile and George Floyd, frame this searing exploration of the historical and fictional narratives that white America tells itself to justify and maintain white supremacy. From the country’s founding through the summer of Black Lives Matter in 2020, David Mura unmasks how white stories about race attempt to erase the brutality of the past and underpin systemic racism in the present.

Intertwining history, literature, ethics, and the deeply personal, Mura looks back to foundational narratives of white supremacy (Jefferson’s defense of slavery, Lincoln’s frequently minimized racism, and the establishment of Jim Crow) to show how white identity is based on shared belief in the pernicious myths, false histories, and racially segregated fictions that allow whites to deny their culpability in past atrocities and current inequities. White supremacy always insists white knowledge is superior to Black knowledge, Mura argues, and this belief dismisses the truths embodied in Black narratives.

Mura turns to literature, comparing the white savior portrayal of the film Amistad to the novelization of its script by the Black novelist Alexs Pate, which focuses on its African protagonists; depictions of slavery in Faulkner and Morrison; and race’s absence in the fiction of Jonathan Franzen and its inescapable presence in works by ZZ Packer, tracing the construction of Whiteness to willfully distorted portraits of race in America. In James Baldwin’s essays, Mura finds a response to this racial distortion and a way for Blacks and other BIPOC people to heal from the wounds of racism.

Taking readers beyond apology, contrition, or sadness, Mura attends to the persistent trauma racism has exacted and lays bare how deeply we need to change our racial narratives—what white people must do—to dissolve the myth of Whiteness and fully acknowledge the stories and experiences of Black Americans.

Genres: Nonfiction, Race, History, Politics, Asian American, African American, Anti Racist

303 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 31, 2023

About the author

David Mura (born 1952) is a Japanese American author, poet, novelist, playwright, critic and performance artist. He has published two memoirs, Turning Japanese: Memoirs of a Sansei, which won the Josephine Miles Book Award from the Oakland PEN and was listed in the New York Times Notable Books of the Year, and Where the Body Meets Memory: An Odyssey of Race, Sexuality and Identity (1995). His most recent book of poetry is The Last Incantation (2014); his other poetry books include After We Lost Our Way, which won the National Poetry Contest, The Colors of Desire (winner of the Carl Sandburg Literary Award), and Angels for the Burning. His novel is Famous Suicides of the Japanese Empire (Coffee House Press, 2008). His writings explore the themes of race, identity and history. His blog is blog.davidmura.com.

David Mura was born in 1952 and grew up in Chicago, the oldest of four children. He is a third generation Japanese American son of parents interned during World War II. Mura earned his B.A. from Grinnell College and his M.F.A. in creative writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. He has taught at the University of Minnesota, St. Olaf College, The Loft Literary Center, and the University of Oregon. He currently resides in Saint Paul, Minnesota, with his wife Susan Sencer and their three children; Samantha, Nikko and Tomo.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Ming · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thank University of Minnesota Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

(I wrote this review awhile ago and waited to see which quote to include. Since the murder of Tyre Nichols by a group of Black cops occurred, I can't go look for a quote from Mura but instead I notice how these cops have been programmed. Hurt people hurt people. The whole situation is very sad and reflects a chronic disease in the U.S.)

This is a difficult read; and the subject matter is important and essential. It is difficult because of the topic. This is a given and certainly reading about chronic anti-Black racism is easier than living under the oppression and racism this book recounts.

It is also difficult because Mura catalogs many examples of white violence against Black people. I felt it was unrelenting and at a certain point, new insights or new ideas did not arrive with more recent cases of white-on-Black violence. And he repeats, multiple times, the beliefs/thoughts and theories/critiques in one chapter as well as across chapters. I thought this repetition was unnecessary and added to an already dense read. Referring to various studies, statistics and social commentators added to his argument…and it also reinforced a certain academic or professional tone, one that weighed down the reading experience for me.

This collection of social analysis essays with elements of personal commentary and notations is depressing and has a hopeless quality to it. I appreciate that there are no easy fixes. But while I felt that naming the problem is important, I could not see a way out or a way through this very American reality. Yes, it suggests that whites have a huge burden and an overdue “heavy lift.” But how would they begin or why would whites want to address it? That piece seems extremely elusive.

Mura suggests that “if individual Black and person of color sees this true assessment of white people and whiteness (mine: that whites has a delusion about their place in the world), the power of the individual white and whiteness lessens…The ways the white world view us—however that white world affects our outer life—has less and less relevance to the ways we thinks of ourselves.”

I find this unsatisfactory and simplistic…and limiting and unpractical. It’s a start but it places the responsibility on the victim at some level. Yes, it is a concrete first baby step.

The white person must do three tasks, according to Mura. First, whites need to learn more and must come to terms with a level of ignorance or unawareness. And he posits: “If you have no friends of color, there is a reason why you have no friends of color.” Mura’s educate yourself advice is flimsy here.

The other two tasks involve a psychological/spiritual journey similar to Kubler-Ross’s stages of grief and a political commitment by building strength and character to speak out and act. I think Mura makes a good argument about what needs to be done though the mechanics are vague and lofty. Who decides to grieve and to get “grit”? He does not address what would motivate, much less inspire, a white person to embark of such a process. Harry did it because he fell in love but the mere fact that he dated a mixed-race, light-skinned Black woman who would become his wife means he already had some inclination or movement already in place. Why would an average white person undertake a paradigm shift that would be akin to turning their worldview upside down?

I’ll conclude by saying that I agree with his core arguments here. At the same time, I wonder how this title contributes in a compelling and meaningful/practical way. I wish Mura spoke more about how his perspective as an Asian American makes his insights more unique. Yes, he says—in my words—that he was a banana, thinking he was white, and then realized he wasn’t. But how did that process inform the hefty challenge he suggests whites should undertake?

[HoodJoshi666 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stop what you are doing right now and read this book!

If you believe Black Lives Matter, in stopping anti-asian hate, that Mexican children don't belong in cages, that Native lives are important, then read this book! Read it and pass it to the person next to you asap! A huge thank you to Netgalley and David Mura for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book about revealing the lies whiteness and white supremacy has told us like Black, Mexican and asian Americans and people are less than in every way, that slavery or concentration camps are no big deal because they happen/happened in America. That the disgusting genocide of Native Americans was no big deal and much more racist lies. This book is well researched and written. I am so glad I read it.

This book does not tear down white Americans for the sake of bullying them or whatever....This book offers real ways to work through white supremacy, to acknowledge its past so that Americans and America as a whole can move toward a better future. The one thing white America hates doing is acknowledging the past and Learning from that past. If Germany can do it, so can America.....

I had such a good conversation with this book so I hope both white and non white Americans pick up this book with the quickness so we can become a peaceful, better America.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!
OK. This book was hard going. I am fairly good at reading academic writing, but this was a bit of a slog anyway. I think it is possibly the book I have read that has the most uses of "ontology/ontological" I've ever read. And the bar wasn't particularly low. Also I was expecting lots of analysis of movies, books and other popular culture--there was some, but only a few, not nearly what I had expected. I originally thought this was going to be a "3" for me because of the difficulty.
But then I finished the book, in which the author had to stop and add on a chapter on George Floyd. And then stop again and add a chapter for Daunte Wright. And then as I looked back, the book made so much more sense, and seemed so much more urgently needed, and I found myself deciding this was a four-star read. So, final word: an important investigation of whiteness, but be prepared to work for it.

[J Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself by David Mura offers the reader, especially the white reader, a nuanced and understandable explanation of the many ways whiteness convinces itself that it is the default in the world.

I say convinces itself but in fact there are many who actually believe that their whiteness makes them better in every sense. But for those of us who know better and try to both make society better at the same time we try to deprogram ourselves of the lies that pass for fact, this book shows us many of the ways we may well contribute to a racist society even when actively fighting that same society. From implicit bias to how even the best-intentioned stories (novels, movies, etc) can ultimately serve to maintain the status quo, Mura shows how we must begin by looking within. We don't stop advocating for change and claim that working on ourselves is the extent of making the world better, but we work on ourselves so that our activism will truly work to make change and not just shift an already distorted perspective.

I had the pleasure of reading this book while also reading Dina Nayeri's new book Who Gets Believed? Together these wonderful books illuminate how the work we do in society, our activism, must also include work we do on ourselves, an internal personal activism so to speak. Either book alone is a great way to broaden your perspective. Together they serve to give the reader plenty of personal perspective as well as theoretical grounding.

Highly recommended for anyone wanting to make positive change, both in society and in themselves.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Ms. B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just read it. And yes if you're white, you are a racist whether you realize it or not. Let's start seeing everyone's point of view.
Required reading for any white person who believes in the #BLM (Black Lives Matter) movement to make sure their actions are reflecting their words and their perceived beliefs. White people need to go out of their way to associate and frequent places with people of color. Places where they will be in minority. It's ok for white people to feel uncomfortable or unwelcome when spending time with people of color. And yes, it's ok to be or feel insulted. As I would say, "What goes around comes around and what comes around goes around."

[Lin Salisbury · Rating 5 out of 5]

In The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself: Racial Myths and Our American Narratives, David Mura lays bare the historical and fictional narratives that white America tells itself to justify and maintain white supremacy. Beginning with the birth of the nation and spanning the murders of black men and women by police officers, Mura weaves together history, literature, and his own personal experiences to show the ugly underbelly of America … where myth replaced true history and whites propagated false narratives.

Some whites, including some of our elected officials, are so invested in this false narrative that they try to influence what can and cannot be taught in our schools. As an example, he cites Arkansas Tom Cotton responding to curriculum based on the 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, and legislation he introduced prohibiting federal funds from being made available to teach the curriculum in elementary and secondary schools.

We often associate racism with conservative views – idolizing Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Robert E. Lee, for example, and Sarah Palin’s view that “our founding fathers worked tirelessly to end slavery” – when in fact they were slave holders themselves. Mura points out that liberals are guilty as well – many have difficulty recognizing the racism of Abraham Lincoln through their myopic view of the slave-emancipating Lincoln.

“When a society (but for a few dissident members) decides that it does not feel troubled, how can healing even begin?” Mura asks.

Mura also examines racism through the lens of literature, which is one of the ways that racist views are propagated. As both a writer and a critic, his examples are thoughtful and convincing. He references White Flights: Race, Fiction, and the American Imagination, by Jess Row who contends that white agency and privilege lead to the deracination of history and literature. White novelists Marilynne Robinson and Don DeLillo, and memoirist Annie Dillard, omit historical elements that involve race and ethnicity, sidestepping those narratives for ones that are more comfortable, he says. Not including BIPOC narratives is a “fantasy of deracination” and eliminates BIPOC individuals from the national narrative. Instead of writing white, authors of all colors should include the diversity of our actual existence, rather than remaining comfortable with their distorted world. Mura contrasts white writers against writers of color who, in order to succeed, must “always be aware of white people, their presence and power, however much these people of color might wish otherwise”.

The central theme of all the essays in The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself, is that white America has until recently been the only voice representing our past – in literature, in education, and in politics. Because of that, BIPOC stories have remained nonexistent for many white Americans, who continue to propagate false narratives to maintain a flattering portrait of themselves.

Mura ends his book with two essays one on the murder of George Floyd and the other on the murder of Daunte Wright by white police officers, as well as an appendix entitled, “A Brief Guide to Structural Racism.” Why does the murder of Black men (and women) by police keep happening? No amount of remorse will change that – only a concerted effort by white people to dissolve the myths and false narratives of their creation and fully acknowledge the stories and experiences of our BIPOC citizens.

The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself: Racial Myths and our American Narratives by David Mura should be required reading in all high school and college classrooms – and for all Americans. Mura presents a cohesive, comprehensive, and uncompromising look into how white stories about race erase our true historical narrative and foster racism in the present.

[Will Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was/is more difficult to read than most; it is a text book about the cultural stories and myths, which American whites tell themselves and one another. This, in order ignore or move past the cultural violence and related sins of the United States' Founding Fathers upon those who are not white.

Among the realities, which American whites struggle to swallow is that the brilliant, idealistic Founding Fathers wielded Enlightenment Era ideas well, and defiled them at once by creating chattel slavery, violating Native American, etc. Americans struggle to hold these realities in their minds, at once. Conservative Americans in particular; the author deftly examines this, and the whys.

I am grateful that I am friendly with the author David Mura!

I believe that I need to have this book as a reference tool; but how often do I use my reference books..?

[Cynthia Archer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read to understand the issue of racism in the United States.

[Gyalten Lekden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wide-ranging exploration of the mythologies of whiteness that white Americans have trapped themselves in—and the deadly repercussions these have had for people of color, especially Black people—is direct, easy-to-read, and doesn’t come across as overly preachy. If you have done any sort of anti-racist study or reading then there isn’t a whole lot new or utterly revelatory here, but instead it feels more firmly directed at people who have just started coming to grips with the very real issues and damage of whiteness and structural racism in America, and for them it offers a wonderful depth of information. Mura is able to explain academic ideas in a way that demystifies them for the common reader, with a conversational tone throughout. He examines the ways that whiteness needs to forcibly create fictions about itself and about others in order to maintain its destructive power, covering everything from pre-emancipation to the representation of people of color in contemporary art. While there is some repetition across the essays collected here, they were clearly written and structured to form a coherent narrative, and the repetition serves to really hammer home critical points that are important for anyone new to this type of study.

There wasn't really anything new here for me, and his writing and style was much more comfortable and inviting than some of the confrontational, radical literature and theory that I find most compelling. But that really is more of a pro than a con, because his style and the contents seem very well-suited to draw in new people, helping them confront the ways whiteness and its entrenched mythologies have impacted their lives without judgment but instead honesty and clarity.

I want to thank NetGalley and University of Minnesota Press, who provided a complimentary eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not sure how to review this book as a white woman. It reads a lot like a master’s thesis, with factual information cited throughout the book. The atrocities perpetuated against nonwhite people astound me. That anyone can treat another human being so abysmally is beyond my comprehension. There are many people who need to read this book, but I’m afraid this book is so damn honest that those people will immediately build a barricade and stand ‘righteously’ behind it. They’ll put the blinders back on and continue with life.
Even when we see it all over the news and allow ourselves to feel it, we white folks really can’t put ourselves in the shoes of the Black man. How do we fix it? Read this book for ideas on how we can learn and continue to take an honest look at the lives around us.

I was asked by the publisher to read an ARC of this book for my honest opinion. It is not an easy read and you’ll get your hackles raised, but I think that’s the point.

[Peter Okonkwo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unmasking the Stories of Whiteness: A Critical Review of David Mura’s The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself

In The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself: Racial Myths and Our American Narratives, David Mura presents a profound and uncomfortable exploration of how white identity in America has been constructed, sustained, and defended through storytelling. Published by the University of Minnesota Press in 2023, this collection of essays functions as both cultural critique and moral reckoning. Mura, a third-generation Japanese American (Sansei), merges his personal history with literary and historical analysis to expose how white Americans have used narratives both overtly and unconsciously to justify racial hierarchy and avoid moral accountability.

The book begins with Mura’s personal journey: the child of Japanese Americans imprisoned during World War II under Executive Order 9066, he grew up in a white suburb of Chicago believing that assimilation into whiteness was the path to acceptance. It wasn’t until his exposure to Black writers such as James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and Frantz Fanon that he began to see whiteness as a social construction rather than a universal norm. That awakening frames the entire book especially, Mura’s recognition that America’s racial problem is not merely historical but narrative. As he argues, the United States continues to recycle myths that preserve white innocence and suppress Black truth.

Mura divides the book into three sections: “The Present Moment,” “How We Narrate the Past,” and “Where Do We Go From Here.”
Through these, he examines how whiteness defines itself through selective memory, moral blindness, and historical erasure. Essays such as “The Killing of Philando Castile and the Negation of Black Innocence” and “Black Lives Matter and the Social Contract” confront racial violence as symptomatic of America’s deeper narrative problem: a refusal to integrate the voices of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) into the national story.
Mura draws on thinkers like James Baldwin, Frantz Fanon, and Toni Morrison, showing how their writings expose the falsity of white innocence and the psychic cost of denial. He examines not just political and social structures but also the epistemology of race—how knowledge itself is racialized. In doing so, he insists that racism persists not merely as prejudice or policy but as a way of seeing and telling stories.

Readers who appreciate interdisciplinary works will find The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself both intellectually rewarding and morally stirring. Mura’s approach is expansive as I find elements of psychology, philosophy, history, and literary studies. His arguments are supported by close readings of figures like Jefferson, Lincoln, Faulkner, and Baldwin, as well as by an acute awareness of contemporary racial discourse. His literary background gives him a unique angle: he does not simply trace political movements but examines how narrative itself, its structures, symbols, and silences sustains systems of racial domination. In comparing, for example, Steven Spielberg’s film Amistad with the African American novelist Alexs Pate’s adaptation of the same story, Mura demonstrates how the same historical material can either reinforce or subvert the ideology of whiteness.

Yet, while the book is incisive and beautifully written, it is not without its challenges. His aim is to show how racism operates not just as prejudice but as a system of knowing—how whiteness has shaped not only laws and policies but also the very ways Americans interpret truth. Still, this philosophical density can make sections of the book feel daunting, especially for readers unaccustomed to academic language. Those seeking straightforward social commentary may find themselves wrestling with pages of theoretical reflection. Mura’s work is not a casual read; it demands patience, engagement, and a willingness to sit with discomfort.

Another potential drawback is the book’s repetition. Across several essays, Mura revisits the same themes as white denial, historical distortion, and the moral necessity of facing America’s racial past. While these ideas are central to his thesis, their recurrence can make the reading experience feel cyclical rather than progressive. However, this repetition may also be deliberate: Mura is demonstrating how whiteness itself operates through repetition, the same denials, the same justifications, the same myths told again and again across centuries.

Readers who are themselves white or accustomed to traditional patriotic narratives of American history may find the book unsettling. Mura spares no one; he critiques both conservative denial and liberal complacency. His discussion of politicians like Tom Cotton, who dismissed The 1619 Project as un-American, illustrates how whiteness often presents itself as the victim rather than the perpetrator of racial injustice. Yet, Mura’s tone is not one of condemnation but of invitation. He does not ask white readers to wallow in guilt but to reconstruct their sense of identity through honesty. “White Americans,” he suggests, “must construct a new story about themselves, one that listens to and integrates the voices of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color.”

What readers may love most about this book is its synthesis of moral clarity and emotional depth. Mura’s writing resonates because it is rooted in lived experience. He writes not as an abstract theorist but as someone who has personally wrestled with identity, complicity, and belonging. His prose is elegant yet accessible, marked by moments of vulnerability that humanize his intellectual rigor. When he recalls wanting to be “just like a white person” as a child, the confession lands not as self-condemnation but as a mirror to the American psyche itself—a nation forever aspiring to an illusion of purity

Conversely, readers looking for a broader multicultural analysis may find the book too narrowly centered on the Black-white binary. Though Mura references the internment of Japanese Americans and the experiences of immigrants in Minnesota, his sustained engagement is with anti-Black racism and its relation to white identity. For some, this focus feels justified, given that the Black experience is foundational to America’s racial history; for others, it might seem to overlook the complexity of contemporary racial dynamics that also involve Asian, Latinx, and Indigenous narratives.

The book is a courageous, intellectually demanding, and necessary contribution to America’s ongoing racial conversation. It is not a book to be read for comfort—it is a book to be wrestled with. Those who value deep moral inquiry and narrative analysis will find it illuminating, while those expecting easy answers or quick resolutions may find it frustrating. Mura’s central challenge is that America must learn to tell a new story about itself, one that no longer hides behind myth but confronts the full weight of its history.

Whether readers come away inspired or unsettled may depend on how ready they are to confront the stories they have inherited. But one thing is certain: this is a book that refuses to let America look away.

[Crystal · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for SEED. Great for discussion and also participated in a discussion/presentation with the author.

[Angie]

this book is very well written and thoroughly explores all of the issues and ideas shared. Whether you are interested in the history of racism in America, specific examples of discrimination throughout history, or want to explore ideas such as race in fiction writing, this book covers a lot and does it all really well. The subject is heavy (as expected) and there is a tremendous amount of background information, academic concepts and connections between history, philosophy, sociology, literature and politics, to name a few. It is not a quick and easy read, but no anti-racist writing should be. If you want to do the work, this book is just a stepping stone, but it is a good place to start, and I would definitely recommend it.


Perhaps because this book is written as a series of essays, or because the continuum of anti-racism is a complicated and lengthy journey of self-awareness and conscious changes to the way a white person acts and communicates, my reflections on this book are very scattered. I apologize in advance for not writing something very succinct or clear....

Mura discusses this idea of Black memory and white memory, explaining that while the two are intertwined and mutually exclusive, they still compete and differ, because white memory does not make sense without denying the interconnected history. Mura did an excellent job of giving Black history the spotlight while also bringing in the similarities of racism towards Indigenous people throughout the book, but one section that really stood out to me, was when he discussed worldview and "Settler memory" because if we ignore the fact that Indigenous people still exist, we can pretend the atrocities of our history are no longer relevant. It is books like this one that remind readers that the problems of our past (and the lasting impact on our present and future) don't go away if we pretend they didn't happen, in fact it is essential that we learn about the past in order to work towards reconciliation.

I found the sections on Jefferson quite interesting. I remember watching some documentary at some point, I'm not sure if it was for a university class or like a 20/20 primetime type special (I used to watch those religiously every Friday night), but there were two Jefferson descendants who denied each other's existence. One appeared to be caucasian but identified as Black and the other appeared to be Black but identified as white. My white, 20 ish year old mind had a hard time wrapping itself around these ideas and I was brought back to them through reading this book. Mura explains that there were slaves owned by Jefferson that were his own children he conceived with slaves (one of whom was only 1/4 Black, so the children were only 1/8 Black). My still white, 30ish year old brain can now somewhat wrap itself around this idea but still not entirely, thus is the slow progression along the racism to anti-racism continuum.


Mura also explored other presidents and the connection they had to racism and societal change. I still can't fully grasp how Trump was able to be elected, especially right after Obama... but Mura (2023) explained that this was likely in part because the election of Obama "... prompted a resurgence of white grievance and a series of actions and policies ... designed to thwart the growing demographic power of people of color and to more firmly establish a threatened white dominance by whatever means could be devised" (p. 150). All progress Obama made was met by racial regression, as is often the case when we go from one extreme to another in government. Mura also shared information on Lincoln and how he is seen by many as a huge positive marker in the emancipation of slaves, yet he was still quoted as being racist. Reminding us that just because someone goes against the current and makes change, they are still a product of their time period.


Finally, I found the section on white vs Black fiction authors really thought-provoking. Mura explained the difference in how characters are written or described and the assumptions made by readers based on these descriptions, with numerous, fully formed examples. This is just another example of the subconscious thoughts white privilege carries, and the importance of consciously unpacking one's own implicit and explicit biases.


As I have said above, this post reflects my own journey towards becoming an anti-racist, which is always evolving and progressing. It is messy but so important. I hope that Black History Month can be an opportunity for you to also grow!


Thanks to Angelle at Books Forward for giving me the chance to read and review this book, as well as participate in this book tour!

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazingly clear and cogent examination of the perspectives of white American identity--and a deconstruction of them--as communicated in literature, history, and current events. Complex ideas articulated lucidly in a series of essays that complement each other, layer and reinforce the main point with a multitude of examples.

That main point being: the white American perspective, as conveyed in countless implicit background narratives, is blind to race and racism. Willfully so. And rejects minority viewpoints that might say otherwise.

As Mura says in closing the book, the final sentence of the appendix:

The assumed primacy of the white view of reality over the Black view of reality--the basic premise of white epistemology--is what binds the racism of the past to the racism of the present.

Or, as I like to say, with a phrase I have borrowed from Marie Rutkoski in The Winner's Curse,

People in brightly lit places cannot see into the dark.

Rutkowski was describing a literal scene, someone at night in a brightly lit room able to see only their reflection in the window, oblivious to the world outside. Yet it implied a metaphor for privilege. Those who have privilege cannot see the reality of those outside that privilege in the darkness beyond the window--are generally not even aware they are privileged because they don't know that anything exists beyond the window--much less can they grapple with the idea of it. All they know is the brightly lit world they inhabit, and and those who say differently are clearly wrong.

Those on the outside, though, they know all about the world outside in the dark--plus they can see through the window. Their perspective allows them to see both experiences of reality, that on the outside and on the inside. What life is like for the privileged and what life is like for those without privilege. Their perspective provides a fuller, more accurate view of reality. They know more of the world and how it actually works than do those inside their brightly lit privilege. They are the ones who should be most trusted to really understand existence.

The first step to seeing is seeing that there are things you do not see. ― Akwaeke Emezi, Pet

Mura explicates that same idea over and over again in this book. The brightly lit privilege of Whiteness prevents white Americans from seeing that their perspective is not the only one, that there's an entire world of racial experiences outside their own on the other side of the window that whites consider only a mirror. And that Blacks and People of Color on the dark other side of the window have a much clearer understanding of race, racial dynamics, and reality in America than they do.

In many ways this book is a work of literary criticism, examining the racial perspectives captured in pieces of writing. But Mura includes film and other storytelling media besides literature, then puts those stories in dialogue with U.S. history and current events. Chapter titles run along the lines of "Racial Absence and Racial Presence in Jonathan Franzen and ZZ Packer," "The Killing of Philando Castile and the Negation of Black Innocence," "Lincoln Was a Great American, Lincoln Was a Racist," and "Psychotherapy and a New National Narrative." Mura is an academic and his writing definitely has an academic bent, but his thoughts never isolate themselves to an academic tower, as he always moves into everyday, relatable ramifications.

Rarely have I seen racial dynamics articulated so well.

I can see how this book might be a hard one to sell as appealing, but it is powerful, important, and valuable. Most highly recommended.

Blacks cannot help but see whites as hypocrites and morally bankrupt--in light of white establishment and support of this racist society. The issues that white and Black America argue over may change over time--slavery, segregation, police brutality, unequal schools, systemic bias, microaggressions, kneeling NFL players--but what never changes is this: whatever Black Americans say about racial inequality, about the reality of their lives, about discrimination, or about white people, Black truths can never be considered or accepted by the whites of their time as the ultimate truth. Nothing that Black America says can make white people doubt this; white people must be the ultimate arbiters of reality. And this is the essence of white supremacy.

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 2 out of 5]

First of all I am baffled as how a man of color can write a book called the stories whiteness tells itself and then proceed to rehash everything we already know that is wrong with America but instead of wanting to heal the nation and talk about racist as a racist he just refers to them as a white. Is it all white people are racist and then he proceeds to tell us that whiteness means… It’s all negative racist prejudice unfounded statements. He starts the book off talking about Fidel Castro and it’s un-justified shooting Mel Fidel Castro is a true victim of police violence as is Breonna Taylor aunt Minnie others but when you keep people define bother color you’re not healing the nation but making the divider even bigger. I don’t know any white person who wants to read about how just because they’re white they’re equal to all these negative things in about how Abraham Lincoln was a racist and other bones he had dug up to prove his point. Until we stop referring to each other as a color and look at people as individuals with opinions up their own then they’ll always be racist and not all of them are going to be white. When we’re so held bent on being the victim that we bring up people who were champions for the logical thinkers in those who know the difference between right and wrong and nagates everything‘s done by calling them a racist I think the problem was with the author. They were many people in our history that have done questionable things but fought for the rights of Black people and other immigrants. John Brown was murdered for trying to help freed the slaves along with four other people and what about the civil rights lawyers who were murdered in Mississippi in the 1960s who were there to help integrate schools if we focus on negative then we’re surrounding yourself with negative and if we keep putting people into boxes then we will stay on this crazy treadmill of ignorance and racism that we’ve been on for years will just be calling it something different. I guess we’re really made me the most angry about this book is one of my biggest pet peeve’s and that is to say all blank people on this way and that is a false statement because not all white people are racist and to start the book up with such a narrative really breaks my heart that will be no healing in this country until we approach each other as the individuals we are I have read dozens and dozens of books about race and how we interact with each other and what we think of each other and the only book I think I have ever read that truly was written to heal and show the different dichotomies of humans that ultimately want the same thing is the book Never Forget Our People Were Always Free. This is a brilliant book written by Benjamin Tod jealous. Now that was the book written to help heal America that looks like this where we further divide ourselves into groups containing white people/Black people/Spanish people or any other group it’s not helping the issue a race at all but adding to it. Spoke with such a disappointment and although I’m sure the author thought… You know what I have no idea what this author thought because it just seems it is the same old narrative that we read time and again not one of those books has yet to change the world I can’t say I recommend this book and the only way I would is if you just starting your journey on race relations in literature because this book hit’s all the High Point slavery Jim crow ET see but if you’re looking for a book to help heal the nation this is not the one. Like they say if you’re not helping the cause you’re hurting it and saying all one race is a certain way isn’t helping at all. We have many issues in this country but I don’t think calling out a whole race for the mistakes of a few is going to help anyone. That is what God is in this position to begin with is to color everybody with the same brush and say well if they’re that color then that means… Because people are not cookie cutters the original looks like this just make me sad. I imagine the ego you must have to be a man of color and think you’re going to preach the white people about how you know what they think and feel when they can explain to them how they can be different… I would’ve been more open to this book and he approached her differently but I don’t have time for generalizations because as I said that’s what got us to this point in the first place. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.g

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing my advance copy.

This book opens with the story of Philando Castile’s murder by police in Minneapolis, a few miles from where David Mura lives. It closes with the much better known story of George Floyd's murder by Derek Chauvin and the subsequent death of Daunte Wright at the hands of Officer Kim Potter in the middle of Chauvin’s trial.

But this book isn’t another chronicle of police misconduct, “bad apples,” and arguments over police funding. I don’t think the phrase “defund the police” appears in the text.

Mura uses these incidents of official violence against people of color as a backdrop to examine what makes white people in North America tick. He calls it “the ideology of Whiteness,” and dates back to the ideas used to justify African slavery. What’s more important, he thinks those ideas and justifications have never gone away in this society. Mura borrows much in developing his theory of Whiteness from the essayist/activist James Baldwin, who gets a chapter devoted to his ideas and is frequently quoted throughout.

Mura reminds us that the best justification for owning people from birth-to-death is to declare those held in bondage subhuman.

Before the 13th amendment ended slavery, any Black person on the street without proper papers could be a criminal, thus drawing attention from the authorities. Almost two centuries later, Driving While Black is still a leading cause for traffic stops. We know how some of those traffic stops end up.

After the Civil War, and especially after the “Redemption” of white power in the South after a decade of Reconstruction, mainstream historians recast the war. No longer a fight for freedom for slaves, the war was a tragedy for both sides. The southern Confederacy, composed of honorable men fighting in a “Lost Cause” for their way of life.

While most of what Mura writes about this period is true, there's a missing piece. He thinks that the fight of the former slaveholders to keep political power dominated the entire post-Civil-War period.

This is not an accurate, complete picture of this period. He seems not to have read either W.E.B. DuBois’ Black Reconstruction in America 1860-1880, or its modern successor, Eric Foner’s Reconstruction. There is no mention of the Radical Republicans and Black members of Congress in the period prior to 1876, who fought to bring the ballot to every Black man (though not necessarily to women of any color).

After these chapters, the literature professor turns his attention to modern American fiction, seeking more truths in art about the depth of Whiteness ideology. He compares Jonathan Lethem, William Faulkner, Doris Lessing, and TOni Morrison. The key insight he offers: While writers of color nearly always include white characters, and have to deal with racism in their books, white writers never have the same obligation.

So how does Mura seek to solve the problem of Whiteness? It’s probably a harder slog than getting business and government to stop oppressing people of color.

It goes something like this: The white people reading this book need to abandon their privilege. It’s a four-step process:
* Get educated. Read a lot.
* Hang out with POCs. Listen to them when they describe their reality, especially when it differs from yours.
* Go through the stages of grief (really!) to understand themselves and what it means to abandon privilege.
* Help other white people to transform their lives the way you have.

See? Such an easy task.

This is worth reading, and I’m adding some of his sources to my TBR list.

[Candice Hale · Rating 4 out of 5]

📖 🅱🅾🅾🅺 🆁🅴🆅🅸🅴🆆 📖

David Mura’s 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗪𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗜𝘁𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 is a handbook for white people to check their privilege, their racial distortions, their inaccuracies, and their thinking that have ultimately shaped their narratives and language about white identity and white supremacy in this country. Through examples of history, law, literature, film, and personal anecdotes, Mura casts a wide net on myriad ways white America are reluctant to reckon with the horrid history and narratives of slavery. In fact, he shows how white supremacy models a narrative of blindness, deception, and lies to support a racial discourse that continues to dehumanize and denigrate Black people and Blackness. However, for the white reader, that seeks contrition and change, this book offers resolution and promise for a different America.

Frankly, this book should be in the home of every white family in America. In order for this country to “live up to its creed,” white America has to do more. Mura make it painfully clear to white America in this book: “You need to realize that you are more ignorant than you think are. You must entertain the proposition that when it comes to race you do not know what you do not know.” 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗪𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗜𝘁𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 is going to make white people extremely uncomfortable.

America’s psyche is so intrinsically warped by racism. Mura explains it better: "𝙄𝙣 𝙨𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨, 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙤𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙘𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙤𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙡 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙩, 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙. 𝙄𝙣 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙩, 𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙤𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙣𝙤 𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙞𝙢𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙡𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙡." A reader has to be equipped to the brutal truths that lie ahead in this book because for so long white America has believed its own lies as facts.

As a Black reader, I also understand that I’m not Mura’s target audience. I felt like—he ain’t talking to me—these white folks are crazy and full of racist rhetoric and have been for centuries—they need this book. Also, there are moments where the book can be very theoretical and personal so be prepared for that as well. Overall, I think it was a great read for a whiteness studies course and for white people. Much better than something like 𝙒𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙁𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮.

[Book Club of One · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Mura's The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself: Racial Myths and Our American Narratives offers a series of essays blending his personal experience while also questioning White American cultural narratives. It is a blended work of personal narrative, literary analysis, history, language and anger. Mura and his family live in Minneapolis, within miles of where George Floyd and Philando Castile were murdered. The work is bookended by Mura's reflections and frustration with the ongoing death of African Americans by police.

Mura's essays are divided into three sections: "The Present Moment," "How We Narrate the Past," and "Where Do We Go From Here?" Each section focuses on it's theme, beginning in the present, and then explaining the present by detailing the past, before offering suggestions for change or personal growth. Across these essays Mura draws from many different sources exploring the language and logic used in perpetuating or challenging our cultural narratives.

Mura draws on his local knowledge of Minneapolis and is able to speak to the predatory or racial focus of the Minneapolis police. He also speaks of seeking to be white in his youth, despite being a Japenese American. This links to his families past treatment, particularly with internment.

Mura frequently draws on the works of others, especially Toni Morrison and James Baldwin. The essay most illustrative of two concurrent narratives speaking to different audiences, is the one focused on the film Amistad, directed by Steven Spielberg versus the novelization of the film written by Alexs Pate, an African American professor, educator and author.

Beyond just explaining how the White American experience became the driving narrative, Mura also discusses how Whites could move beyond it, but they must be wiling. If they are this book is a very useful tool in navigating racial discourse in contemporary America.

I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.

[Maileen Hamto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poet, critic, and playwright David Mura begins his incisive analysis of the manifestations of Whiteness by sharing his personal story of being subsumed into White Supremacist ideologies. As a Japanese American whose parents and family were incarcerated during World War II, Mura was raised to assimilate into Whiteness and want to be White. Mura’s take on racial identity has been shaped by a lifetime of living in the shadow of racial stratification.

Against this backdrop, Mura shares his awakening into the realities of race and racial conflict in the United States. In “The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself,” Mura deconstructs the creation and perpetuation of White identity in literary, psychological, theoretical, and other realms. In his essays, he analyzes how historical and fictional racial narratives silence and ignore racism, rendering invisible the experiences of Black and Brown folks. Mura illuminates the different ways that Blacks and Whites perceive, think about, and perform their race. The enduring stories of Whiteness define humanity from a Eurocentric lens, purporting to believe in equality, but failing to see Black suffering. Whiteness denies the existential and persistent threat to Black life, undermining a violent past.

When people deny the existence of and impacts of racism, the oppressive system continues. This book is a timely and much-needed retort to the continuing battle for equity and inclusion of Black-centered history in American schools, libraries, and knowledge centers. Reading the book from my point of view as a fellow Asian American, it was a powerful realization that such a thoughtful and insightful analysis is written by someone who is neither Black nor White but whose family and personal history are mired in Whiteness anyway. Mura touches on racial epistemologies and ontologies, breaking down the mechanics of decisions about absolute truth and objective knowledge. His writing is engaging, impassioned, and anchored in moral, spiritual, and sociopolitical critiques of the harmful impacts of racism.

[Mark Cecil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would give this book 10 out of 10 if I could.

I think The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself is really one of the best books of its kind, and only a habitual discretion keeps me from saying it's THE best book on race and literary whiteness I have read. If I were asked by a white creative writer where to start in grappling with issues of race in storytelling, I would likely recommend this book above any other. The book also works as a brilliant, urgent and concise lay of the land for where the convo on race is today.

I particularly loved the section about the psychology of repression and denial...and how that is what is crippling the soul of America. I also share the author's love of James Baldwin, who I return to again and again in my own reading.

I deeply appreciated the part at the end when Mura writes that white shame is not his aim, and that white people will make mistakes. That forgiveness (to go along with firmness) is important in society. Even really well meaning white people are terrified of being called out and publicly shamed about race matters. Fragility is real (and an additional source of shame) as white people shed their ignorance, step by step.

I believe this book can help play a vital part of our non-postponeable national project of developing a new national story. I think part of what white people need to do is to realize that just because there are bad actors doesn't mean we have a bad country. And just because some whites were evil, doesn't mean America is evil. And just because some parts of our founding we got wrong, America still got a lot of things right. There are American heroes to be found everywhere and at every time in America....it's just that some of the greatest American heroes weren't white, and some of the greatest villains were white, and they were villains because they were white.

But that doesn't mean we can't now have a good, and great, and beautiful, and truthful national story, even if it's a rich and complicated one. That story is there to be written. And it is there, one day, to be embraced. But the truth must come out first. On a truthful foundation we will build our new national myth.

[Tim Hering · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself – Racial Myths and Our American Narratives, by David Mura, is a collection of essays aimed at showing how white America is brought up to believe a set of ideals about itself that allows systemic racism to continue and proliferate, even among those whites who consider themselves as liberal thinkers.
Muir’s essays are often a bit dry, but that can be forgiven as much academic writing cannot hope to be riveting material. His essays cover contemporary news stories such as the police killings of Philando Castile, George Floyd, and Daunte Wright, to slavery, the founding fathers, and Abraham Lincoln. Muir also compares the differences in how blacks and whites tell stories.
In the section titled “Racial Absence and Racial Presence in Jonathan Franzen and ZZ Packer,” I felt Muir strays from a factual analysis of his subject and loses objectivity, albeit briefly. However, I felt that the subject of this particular essay, Franzen, wrote something that Muir did not find believable but was not precisely on the topic of whiteness in literature.
Regardless, I feel this is a must-read for anyone who wants to see positive change from the current divisive rhetoric in today’s political and social arena.

[Penny lurkykitty · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Mura has written a phenomenal book about how the myths and narratives of white supremacy are integrated into every facet of American society and the deadly consequences this has for people of color, historically and in the present. He begins with the birth of the nation and the legacy of slavery, portrays how racial myths are perpetuated in the arts and media, and embedded in policy, education and attitudes. The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself is meticulously researched and thoughtfully, coherently written in a conversational, accessible style. Mura lives minutes away from where Philando Castile and George Floyd were killed and was deeply affected by their murders. He connects the ideas in this book to the prevalence of police violence against Black people. Highly recommended for those working toward positive change, both in society and within themselves. Every American needs to read this book. Sadly, those who need to read it the most are neither capable of it, nor open to it.
Thank you to BooksForwardPR and the author for a copy to review.
@booksforwardpr @muradavid #BooksForwardFriends

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very much in the vein of The 1619 Project, with an in-depth, historical look at how our nation was defined and founded in racism. Issues are brought to the present through popular culture and examples of police brutality. Mura started writing this book following the killing of Philando Castile. Shortly after completing it, he added a chapter for George Floyd. And then Daunte Wright. He could have added a hundred chapters. This book could never end and the latest chapter could be titled “Tyre Nichols”.

I found it interesting that Mura is a Japanese American and focused this book on the difference between black and white. He did draw some comparisons to his lived experience but I’m sure he would be able to write another book with an Asian focus if he chose to.

If you consider yourself an ally or have a BLM sign in your front yard, get this book in your mitts.

Thank you booksforwardpr for the gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.

CW/TW: racism, colonialism, police brutality

[Audra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection looks at the foundational myths that underpin white identity in America. Mura is a Twin Cities resident, and this book is framed by the murders of two black men by police, Philando Castile and George Floyd. These essays go beyond historical narratives to look at fictional storytelling. Looking at specific examples of stories told by white storytellers and black storytellers, Mura cuts to the heart of how important it is to look at what stories get told and who gets to tell those stories. This book asks of its white readers to do the work of dissolving the white narratives that perpetuate white supremacy and fully acknowledge the stories and experiences of black Americans. In praising this book, Marlon James writes “This is a re-examination of the American imagination itself and the myths we need to dismantle for a proper foundation to finally grow. It’s fearless, illuminating, and revolutionary.” I couldn’t agree more.

[Emily | emilyisoverbooked · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Books Forward PR and University of Minnesota Press for the copy of this book.

The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself is an incredible learning tool, broken off into three sections: the present moment, how we narrate the past, and where do we go from here?. I found myself underlining SO many passages in this book. The way that David writes is so easy to understand and I absolutely flew through this text, which is sometimes difficult with nonfiction. The Brief Guide to Structural Racism in the Appendix is pure gold. But what I appreciated the most that really sets this book apart is David’s focus not just on history, present-day events, and facts, but on what can be done for the future and where we go next. Practicality is often missing from nonfiction texts and I’m often thinking “okay, now what?!”, so I loved being able to have some actionable items when I finished this read.

[Lisa Gisèle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley for letting me review this story. My opinions are entirely my own.

It would be easy to say as a Canadian Caucasian I don't relate to this book and it's true to an extent.

I do however have a duty as a human to educate myself about others, their history and their present .
Stories Whiteness tells Itselves is a wonder book that made connections about the conscious and non conscious racist ways that we think or act.
The structural components of racism starting on page 54 is probably my favorite portion of the book and should be read by everyone.

The book is heavy and at times feels long. It's worth the time and energy committed to it though
A very strong narrative that holds up a mirror and makes me face the lies I tell myself.

[AnnieM · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a timely and critical read particularly for white people like me. David Mura is a third generation Japanese American - he did not realize he was not white himself until college. This book is a collection of remarkable essays that interrogate the past, the present and outline actions to take going forward. I found these essays to be incredibly concise yet chock full of critical information and sources from others. I appreciate the thoroughness of his approach as well as his own personal feelings of the murder of George Floyd and other black men in the author's city and neighborhood. A compelling and important read. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and University of Minnesota Press for an ARC and I left an honest review voluntarily.

[Alise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an interesting introduction piece to narratives of history and how they were defined. I think this is a good starting point to further explore concepts presents and the book includes a bibliography of a good number of more in depth pieces of the topics discussed.

One of my favorite parts of this book is that it veers into literal stories and addresses written media and films, which is about the last 20% of the book. While I didn't agree with all the author's statements, overall I think this is well-written, well-researched and definitely worth the read.

Disclaimer: I received a free ARC from the publisher.

[LaShanda Chamberlain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the years, I have read many books on racial inequality & white supremacy in the US. This book was different. It went right to the core, David Mura went right to the core of the many myths associated with white supremacy in this country & debunked them!! Mura does an excellent job debunking many of the common myths used in racial dialogues, He even used his own experiences with whiteness. Mura begins this book with his proximity to the murders of Philando Castile & George Floyd. Like so many of us in this country, Mura has seen enough & ready to combat the problem.

A special thanks to Netgalley, the author & publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.