Scan barcode
A review by kingofthehillxl
American Whitelash: A Changing Nation and the Cost of Progress by Wesley Lowery
informative
4.0
This is somewhere very close to 5 stars for me. I think it lacked a little impact on the theory side. It is an amazing account of the modern face of white reactionism, and as a gen z, the first president I thought about in the present tense is probably Obama.
I remember his election. It isn’t the actual inauguration, or any of his heralding speeches that stuck with me though. It is the reckoning I had with politics as I got into an emotional debate with one of my then friends in the fourth grade who was CONVINCED that Obama wasn’t actually American and was instead a African Muslim immigrant in disguise would ruin our country. I remember this vividly, and even though I don’t speak of it much it often lingers in my mind. Several memories like this are what I recalled while reading this book. It is a little different to recall where you were during so much of a non fiction book. As a young person, it isn’t an experience I often have. I remember when I first saw Charlottesville on the news. I remember the racial climate during Obama’s presidency. As a black boy who lived through a lot of this book, I know the story first hand.
One of the biggest triumphs of the book for sure is the prose, it isn’t poetic but it conveys very succinctly a somewhat nebulous message about the historic trend of White backlash against racial progress. It’s when we get beyond the area of explaining the phenomenon that I think the book may falter a little.
I remember his election. It isn’t the actual inauguration, or any of his heralding speeches that stuck with me though. It is the reckoning I had with politics as I got into an emotional debate with one of my then friends in the fourth grade who was CONVINCED that Obama wasn’t actually American and was instead a African Muslim immigrant in disguise would ruin our country. I remember this vividly, and even though I don’t speak of it much it often lingers in my mind. Several memories like this are what I recalled while reading this book. It is a little different to recall where you were during so much of a non fiction book. As a young person, it isn’t an experience I often have. I remember when I first saw Charlottesville on the news. I remember the racial climate during Obama’s presidency. As a black boy who lived through a lot of this book, I know the story first hand.
One of the biggest triumphs of the book for sure is the prose, it isn’t poetic but it conveys very succinctly a somewhat nebulous message about the historic trend of White backlash against racial progress. It’s when we get beyond the area of explaining the phenomenon that I think the book may falter a little.