And Finding Myself in the Story of Race - Waking Up White

I've read this as part of a group discussing white privilege. I am from the west coast, white, middle-class born, upper middle class as an adult. This book is not at all my experience. It sounds more like a book for people born into the rarified, very upper-class world of the East Coast WASP. So, if you want to learn about how that group was raised in the 60s and 70s, dive right in. I found it narrow-minded, judgmental and condescending with a sprinkling of passive aggression. Which in a way describes the society she is talking about. I suspect there are better books out there which discuss the issue in a more class-free manner.

Had to buy this b/c our church was discussing it. The book is annoying for a couple reasons. First, the author is actually surprised that blacks and other minorities are not always treated equally, duh, I mean isn't this obvious already, everyone is judged at least to an extend on how they look, then she repeats this over and over again through the whole book, its boring and repetitive. Its the same points over and over again. Also her 1% upper class childhood experiences make her hard to relate to.

Also she sounds very disrespectful to her parents and others, especially whites who are successful. Her message is that if you work hard and succeed you can't just be happy, instead you have to go around feeling guilty all the time b/c some others in society have in harder, also if your are successful, you can't take credit for it and be proud b/c you were given special advantages,

Very thought provoking! Although I have traveled a lot internationally, lived as a minority at times and felt myself to be basically unprejudiced, reading this was a real and disturbing eye opener for me. It made me realize how much internal work I need to do to understand the extremely entitled life I live as a white person and to take responsibility for rooting the insidious and pervasive racism.

We white folk take so much for granted. Irving's learning experience is a fascinating read. At the same time that she judges the system that we have allowed to bias things against people of color, she is not a harsh judge...just hopes people will wake up. On a side note, my nephew is black (Native Americans often count percentage: 1/4, 1/8, etc. but in this country black is black, and few people make any distinction) and he has to face discrimination that I never had to. I know I am fortunate by no efforts of my own. We need to level the proverbial playing field. Very good book.

What this book adds is the emotional journey of discovering one's own internal racism and awareness that White is indeed a culture. For many people in power and coming from privilege, this notion is a shock. Several reviewers have wondered if people could actually be as unaware as Ms. Irving is. I say heartily, "YES!" Most people in power and with academic and economic privilege rarely discuss race or see it playing into their decisions. Yet, because of their positions of power those choices affect hundreds of people. We don't see white culture or even that there is a majority culture, there just is the way things are. Aren't they that way for everyone?
If you're protected from race, you never think about it because you don't have to. That's the way it is for many White Americans, and its why we don't get anywhere with racism. People keep denying that they have it rather than asking, "How am I racist and not know it?" That's a more interesting question.
We need books that deal with the personal journey of discovery of one's own racism, as well as treatises on Black/African American's experiences, systemic racism, and how racism is enacted (often unknowingly) in health care practice and policy. This book effectively fills the niche for white people, especially women, on the emotional repercussions of waking up white, and how to deal with all the feelings that brings up. No other book I've read on racism or white culture (20 so far on my reading list) has done that with compassion and understanding.

Yes, "white privilege" is a real thing. Yes, Black Lives Matter. Yes, we all need to do much more to understand why life is very different for white and black (and brown and Latino and Asian and...) in America.

Still, this book is such an unrealistic portrayal of life for most white people in the US that it is likely to exacerbate tensions rather than help resolve them.

As other reviewers have pointed out, Ms. Irving has conflated much of her economic privilege into her white privilege. She readily admits to a very upper class (let's not even try for "upper middle class") background but then seems to think that this kind of upbringing has given her the same experiences as the "rest of us," who have often had to deal with limited choices because of the less than affluent communities and schools we inhabit.

Further, it is almost beyond belief that a person given the privileges she has had could be quite so uninformed about the real world. Are all white people as blind to reality as she seemed to be before "waking up white?" I find that difficult to believe. Here, for example, is one of her early experiences in the real world of work.

Irving completed four years of college at "very white" Kenyon college and then spent an extended time on a study abroad program in "also very white" Vienna. She then returned and used her father's extensive connections to get an internship at WGBH, Boston's premier public radio station.

On her very first day at the station, this new intern with no job experience is approached by another staff person and is offered a position as managing director of a local dance company! Though she admits that she may not be well qualified, she still takes the job.

As Irving tells it, one of her first grants at the dance company provides funding to bring 500 "inner city children" to the Boston Shakespeare Theater to watch a daytime dance program. She expects that this experience will be a wonderfully welcome opportunity for the kids. Imagine her surprise then when the lines of school buses begin bringing the students to the theater.

"When the kids started pouring off the buses, I couldn't believe how many were black...I had never seen so manyh black faces in one place in my life. I felt complete shock that 'inner-city' seemed to equate with 'black!'" (page 108)

Really? One can spend more than 20 years in the US, at apparently good schools, can listen to a public radio station with all kinds of diverse programming, and still be "shocked" that inner-city and black are synonymous in her city?

It is this kind of removal from everyday life that makes Waking Up White a very unhelpful book. It can only reinforce stereotypes some of other races may have about all whites, and it is so totally not real world that most whites with far less economic coddling are likely to just blow it off as so much "liberal pandering." There are far better works out there that address what is a real problem without making things worse.

Well written book. The class privilege of the author was an obstacle for me, since my own life experience has been so different, but I still valued the perspective and examination of white supremacy in America.

I bought this book to gain some perspective on racial tension and white privilege. Two things: i) it comes across with as somewhat condescending. The author puts silly little "exercises" at the end of each chapter. In doing so she implicates that we are unknowing and would benefit from her "guidance". ii) It's hard to believe that she grew up/lived in such a bubble that she had no inkling with regard to racial bias/injustice. The bit in the book regarding a lecture she had in grad school outlining the inequities of the administration of the GI Bill after WWII and her subsequent shock was an eye roller. It's apparent that her "journey" is more about her upper-class upbringing than it is regarding the experience of most of the white population.

I thought I was further along in my journey of understanding racism after 15 years of work. This book opened my eyes to many more of my own behaviors that can be problematic for people of color. Debby Irving's descriptions of "not wanting to look stupid" or "not wanting to offend", so just avoiding or keeping quiet when uncomfortable was SO familiar. The thought that schools were a place of fear for many African American parents, such that they didn't feel comfortable advocating for their children was mind-blowing and disheartening, but upon reflection, totally reasonable. And the reality that black anger can easily be dismissed by white administrators who avoid conflict reduces their likelihood of success. How many times would I try before I gave up, given the same obstacles???

I appreciated the list of dominant white male culture behaviors, and the discussion of how they can be both good and bad, depending on the situation. For those who have read this far, the list follows:
Conflict avoidance, Valuing formal education over life experience, Right to comfort/entitlement, Sense of urgency, Competitiveness, Emotional restraint, Judgementalness, Either/ Or thinking, Belief in one Right way, Defensiveness, Being status oriented.

Personally, I would add one more, Seeing ourselves as Individuals more than members of a group. (the white group)
This book made me think deeply about how these behaviors inhibit attempts to be more inclusive of folks who have different views, and how I can behave differently.

If we white people continue to avoid honest discussions across the racial divide our forefathers erected, we will never benefit from the amazing gifts other cultures can offer, and we will stay in a fearful state. And violence will continue on both sides of the divide, with people of color getting blamed for justifiable anger and white people remaining self-justified in squelching any conflict or honest dialogue about other's painful reality.
Thank you Debby Irving, for teaching me how to be a better ally, and reminding me that it will take more work on my part to make a positive difference. This is work I am willing to do, because the deeper connections and my expanded views are so worth it!

And for those who are disparaging this book as "liberal guilt" and such, I believe they are just so deep in denial and fear that they are committed to remain ignorant.

Yes, it is a book that resonates because it is filled with the author's personal experience and growth. I especially like her points about being an ally for people of color and how to do that in a way that is truly supportive.

I believe all of us "white folks" would benefit greatly from reading this book. If read widely enough, it could lead to the dismantling of our very subtle form of "apartheid" that we have (mostly unconsciously) created here - even in our most liberal-minded, politically-progressive, communities.

My concern with race has been with me as long as I can remember. I was amazed that the author appears to have been sheltered from this national disgrace during her younger years. Reading this book brought forth interesting questions that can be used for group discussion. Any book that stirs attention and thought to this issue is worth the time to take a look.

Important eye opener for those of us who never knew that they had a WHITE perspective on everything. This will show you why the races don't see eye to eye. Should be required reading for every adult in this country. We can't fix it if we don't know what's going on.

I think the author and I grew up very differently. So far, I hear what she is saying; I just can't relate to what she has said yet. I will continue to read it though. Our church (I think) is having a discussion about it at some point. As I said in the heading, if anyone is helped by this, then it's worth it.

Important book, especially as an initial window for white audiences into the reality of what it means to be black in America both historically and in the present. I think it is a great first step to read this especially for educators and those who work in non-profit cultural organizations to have the lights turn on a little bit about the issues of race in America. Then dig deeper and read some black authors.

WAKING UP WHITE is a wake-up call to white people who want to delve deeper into their alliance against racism. If you wonder why "diversity programs" never seem to satisfy, Debby Irving's memoir of waking up to her own white cultural perspective will open your eyes and nothing will look the same. A very important book in the movement for equality and justice.

this book is an easy read and shop up many of the assumptions I have believed about race. It is not easy to explain what "being white" means. Debby Irving does a very good job. this book is a good training manual for groups who want to work against racism.

Very thought provoking book and as relevant today as back in the 50's and 60's. Too many still think this problem was solved years ago. Depressing when one realizes how we kid ourselves into thinking we live in a democratic country with justice for all.

I have spent several years and read many books about "the journey". Debby Irving's book is the best there is for developing an understanding of what it means to be white. I highly recommend this book whether you are new to understanding privilege or have been working on it for a long time. It is a great tool for group reading and discussion.

1excellent

What an amazing transformation! I am impressed with the author's willingness to learn and to share her personal evolution. A great book for those interested in improving race and ethnic relations in our country .

This is a very useful book for trying to sort out the issue of systemic racism. The questions at the ends of sections are wonderful prompts for journaling and discussions with others who want to understand and reduce harmful effects of racism in the US.

I would live to chat with Debby. This book is absolutely life changing, riveting, transparent like never before! I would love to ask lots of questions and have an engaging conversation about her journey. I have recommended this book to many of my colleagues.

Debby Irving's memoir is a revelation: she dissects her life experience as a WASP baby boomer in a candid, insightful manner. She is open about her upbringing of privilege, access and comfort as a white American woman and how this upbringing skewed her understanding of American history, its social, economic and racial disparities. I highly recommend this book to anyone who cares about eliminating racial disparities in America and eliminating racial prejudice in their behavior.

I liked this book for a number of reasons, and have recommended it to several people. There are many books out there that have lots more facts, and although they are essential too, that can be overwhelming. Sometimes the facts are back in the past, and folks think those points are not relevant any more. I'm a white person from the suburbs, trying to educate myself around issues of Race. I've read many of those books, but feel this is a good book to educate, get people talking, thinking... and FEELING. If you grow up in an area where white is all you see, or associate with, then there is no race, because there is nothing to differentiate "us" from "them". In gentle ways that most of us can identify with, we are led through Waking up White... a Story of Race. It gives us a glimpse of the impact on people of color AND whites of being limited/segregated to a one dimensional living and thought process. At the end of each chapter there are some comments or questions to think about. Great for individual thought, or even better, group discussions.

If there was a way that I could make this required reading for every high school senior in our great country, I would do it.

It is a magnificent piece of work and those who read it will truly know more about racism, what it is and what we next need to do to combat it.

Linda Warner

Excellent book about the difficulty of understanding race issues as a member of the dominant culture. If you're white and you've ever found yourself confused about the issues of race, racism and the legacy of slavery as it plays out in today's world, this is the book for you. Irving's honesty as she recounts her journey from confusion to understanding will strike a chord with many. Understanding the way things are is the first step toward making them better.

Debby Irving should write a book on "Waking up Rich". That title would be more relatable to most "white folks" that struggle every day and have hardships like the black community. More white privilege fiction and guilt is not what this country needs to mend. Enough already with this divisiveness and lets all just do what's possible, making the best and accepting what each of us have been dealt in life.

I think there might have been a generation gap and an income gap as I could not relate to this book. I wondered how the author could have grown up in such a bubble. I also thought it was poorly written. Of the 9 of us at book club 8 disliked the book for the same reasons. There is much better reading on the subject elsewhere.

And by that, I mean everyone. Not many of us white folks spend much time dealing with race issues. We like to think we're not prejudiced, but this isn't quite the honest truth. The book is a challenge for us to be more aware and to understand that this struggle isn't over.

As a story of one very privileged white person's exploration of black/white race relations, the book is not bad. The author offers several practical pieces of advice. However, there are many aspects of her story that are not applicable to 90+ percent of white Americans and certain aspects are simply not plausible. Her background is that of an exceptionally privileged WASP from an old New England family with many powerful connections and living in an exclusive white suburb. Her family seemed happy and productive although unusually emotionally repressed. Despite having gone to excellent schools and college with a major in history, she was apparently unaware of most of the history of racism in the United States until she learned about it in the 10 or so years prior to this book. Furthermore, her father, who apparently was a previously happy productive person came to believe, on his deathbed, that his life was a complete failure because he had been been complicit in excluding a Jewish man from his country club several decades earlier. The regret and guilt overpower the learning points.

The lady’s heart seems to be in the right place, but how did she ever not know that she was of a particular race? I woke up white, too, but I had also gone to sleep white the night before. I was always aware that I was a member of a race and of a society that conferred white people some significant advantages over black people. Ms. Irving was surprised to learn that she was white; I was surprised to learn that there were white people so clueless as ever not to have known that.

Excellent book that takes the reader on a journey that parallel's the author's transformative choices to delve into the deep shadows of racism, and expose them for what they are. She challenges the reader to consider and take proactive action while maintaining a sympathetic, bright, and encouraging voice. I recommend this book highly!!

I grew up in a small town in the Midwest in the 50's and 60's. My family was very working class. Our town was very white. I felt no prejudice against those who weren't white but I knew exactly two black people, both near my age, and no other people of color. While I was in high school we moved to a rural area and it was all white.
I was aware of the Civil Rights movement. My dad's family was from Georgia and on trips there I saw whites-only water fountains, which seemed both strange and mean. But while I was aware of racism I never saw it in overt practice, or better said, the practice of racism wasn't visible in my life.
I'm writing this to counter all the critics here who say that the author's issue was more a result of her being upper class than from just being white, privileged, yet unaware of her own racism. I was very far from upper class yet I reaped the privilege of being white, or at least did not have to deal with the stigma of not being white and I was unaware of that privilege.
Finally, I have not read the book but have put it onto my wish list. I'm 20 books, at least, behind and want to clear out the backlog before adding to it. I confess that I couldn't resist a sale book, just today, from a local library.

Until a couple of years ago I didn’t really think about race. I didn’t have to, being part of the majority white population of the United States. When I realized that without my attention we were not managing race well in this country, e.g., the shootings of unarmed black men moving away from the shooters, I realized I needed to understand what the heck was being perpetrated upon the non-white population in the name of my safety.

This book is written by a woman who experienced a similar kind of epiphany. Irving grew up wealthy in a suburb of Boston, “the most racist city in America,” according to SNL comedian Michael Che. She’d never confronted the fact that white was a race, too. I had, having lived some years in a non-white majority country, but even I had trouble defining what white meant in America. When I heard a joke about “the whitest thing I’ve ever done,” I started wondering what that would be, and why.

The point is that we all have something to learn about race, no matter the stage of our awakening. One takeaway from Irvings’s lessons was that race is always on the mind of minorities and part of their conversations with one another, but is rarely spoken of in white households. White households may even hold back when their attention is drawn to race, thinking it is rude to speak of it. They claim to be ‘colorblind,’ or ‘do not see race.’

It turns out minorities would prefer you do see race. Because it’s there, and because it is affecting them. We’re actually not all the same. We may have similar aspirations and dreams as humans, but we do not share the same backstory, home lives, food, cultural habits, etc. We’re different, and we need to accommodate differences of opinion and direction in our towns and cities, schools and public facilities.

Irving raises the idea of America’s ‘melting pot.’ It is a concept we need to look at again as our population changes, and speak about with our neighbors, and our government. What does that really mean, and is it good? Or can retaining some diversity of thought and culture make us stronger, better, wider in outlook?

Irving talks about diversity workshops she’s attended and ones she’s organized in Boston. She shares her learning from these sessions, and warns us that people of color are very tired of educating white people about racial sensitivity and fairness. They want white people to do what they have had to do their entire lives: catch up. And that means putting in the time to educate oneself through reading, listening, workshops, and classes if necessary. We may then recognize and work to eliminate racism in ourselves or in others.

The thing is, when we explore race together, we are gong to make mistakes. We are leaving our comfort zone. The first time we speak a foreign language with a native speaker captures some of the discomfort we will feel. It can be humiliating, our errors. If the journey is undertaken with real intent and a proper degree of acceptance of our own abilities and limitations, we will often experience breakthrough and native speakers may find themselves willing to help.

If this book at times sounded like a primer for every generalization ever made about race, it is still helpful for that. Wherever you are in your understanding of race you will find something here to learn. Irving’s frankness helps to clarify areas about which we were curious but unless we have friends of color, we had no one to ask. It looks at ways we can learn to feel more comfortable with color, speak of it, benefit from the diversity of it, but also how to face our own fallibility.
“I’ve come to feel that the straightforward airing of experiences and beliefs is a necessary, albeit uncomfortable, pathway to interpersonal and intercultural understanding and healing. Intimate human connection and enduring trust are the rewards of courageous conversation. The trick for me has been learning to stay in the conversation long enough to get to the other side, where niceness gives way to authenticity, understanding, and trust, the ingredients necessary for social stability.”
I will try to stay in the conversation long enough, and I hope black citizens also stay in the conversation. I understand the exhaustion, truly. So you don’t have to answer whites all by yourself, and maybe not every time it comes up. But if we’re going to get through this, we’re gonna have to engage. Maybe if whites come at least halfway it won’t be so bad.

Irving’s journey was kind of inspiring, and makes me want to try something like that in my own town. I also live in a suburb of Boston and only in the past two to three years have people of color moved into our neighborhoods. I‘d like to know why it took so long, and I’d like to make some new friends. It is a change too long in coming.
“If there’s a place for tolerance in racial healing, perhaps if has to do with tolerating my own feelings of discomfort that arise when a person, of any color, expresses an emotion not welcome in the culture of niceness. It also has to do with tolerating my own feelings of shame, humiliation, regret, anger, and fear so I can engage, not run. For me, tolerance is not about others; it’s about accepting my own uncomfortable emotions as I adjust to a changing view of myself as imperfect and vulnerable. As human.”

Honest, beautifully told account of one well-meaning but benighted woman's coming to terms with the power and ramifications of white privilege. No scolding, no guilt tripping, but full of questions and exercises that help the reader begin his or her own journey.

Boring, tedious, condesceding and ridiculous. I was raised in an integrated poor working class neighborhood. This woman is 30 years too late in her analysis of white privilege. She was and still is an upper class East coast wasp. There was nothing new here for me other than typical liberal white guilt being unfettered. Readers would be much better off reading a book on the Great Society which explains how people like her in our govt practiced systematic racism to keep blacks dependent on a govt that did not truly resoect or care about them and which created a system of entitlement that has truly created division among races in America. Until she moves into a poor neighborhood and truly lives there she's got no credibility whatsoever. And whining abput her missteps is just down right annoying.

I listened to this on audio and the first 8 chapters or so I had a hard time with the book. For those who didn't like it and stopped, I would urge you to keep reading. I didn't exactly relate to her when she said how sheltered she was, however, it really gets good in the middle of the book. It is a true "aha" moment for me and I'm so thankful to now see the world with different lenses than before. I had the same exact thoughts as her- "I don't care what skin color people have, as long as they're nice" but this mindset is part of the problem because African Americans have to deal with racism EVERYDAY and can't live their life colorblind as whites do. You can't really understand something like racism unless it happens to you, although this gives white women a chance to see racism in America in a completely different way than what we see in the news or media. Thank you Debby for sharing your story!

Irving's book, "Waking Up White" chronicles her transformation from being a person who never considered race to being a racial justice educator. It's an eye-opening and candid narrative, one we should all read -- particularly those of us who are white. Even those of us who strive to be anti-racist likely haven't yet figured out how to convert our yearning for diversity into a a deep understanding of race in the United States. This book will get you started. Read it, recommend it, and discuss it.

This was a very good book. It has really changed me. I used to think I was not a racist person. Now I realize we are all a bit racist - to some extent. If you have ever said or thought any kind of generalization about the people in one race, even if it is a positive thing like "Asian students always do the best", you are a bit racist too. But this book makes me want to take action and help create positive change in my neighborhood, in my country and in the world. I want to help work for racial justice. I must do more than I am currently doing. I highly suggest that every white person on my friend list read it. We all have much to learn. I want my book club to do it and I hope I can convince some of my friends of color to read it and join us for a frank discussion. Those of us who are born into white privilege (and yes it is REAL) need to stop talking and do more listening. I want to help work for social justice.

I checked this book out of my church library out of curiosity. The picture on the cover could have been me or my sister. But I can't say that I learned a lot from the book. I was incredulous that the author was so often incredulous about things I would think an average white person would know. She must have grown up in Lala-land. She was handed her education and her jobs. I don't think she would have related much better to a "lower class" white person let alone a black person of any socioeconomic level. It took me about four times as long to read this as it normally takes to read a book. There was a good reason for that.

Having read the reviews, I was skeptical but still interested in reading this book. It didn't help that the first chapters are a little self evident, with a very blurry line between class issues and race issues, but perhaps that was deliberate. As the book progressed, the issues started to come through with increasing clarity, although perhaps the clarity was mine. In any event, in the end, I felt that I learned a lot about how race in America got into the mess it is, and what I can do to keep my ears and my mind open to change.

Debby Irving's deeply thought provoking book challenges readers to think about their own experiences with race and racism, while also giving them the opportunity to compare and contrast with Debby's personal experiences. She shares her truth in its raw form, and gives readers a glimpse of her journey as she navigates through her world heavily shaped by her WASP-y upbringing. As a white educator, I feel that this book has truly opened my eyes and pushed me to reflect on my own experiences with race and racism, and I was able to find many parallels to Debby's journey. Reading this book has allowed me to unpack my own privilege and explore race in a way that I never have before. It is personal, and evokes great emotion as a reader. "Waking Up White," provides questions in order to more deeply reflect on your own journey and also offers suggestions that can be completed while reading or after, in order to keep the conversation alive. I appreciate Debby Irving sharing her story and challenging readers to reflect and grow from their own person experiences.

Reading this book helps white Americans take a personal look into their own lives to find where racism lies. We cannot deny that racism exists in America and this is a great book on opening the door for discussion that is all too common for white folks. To read a text where any author is willing to be as honest as Irving is compelling. One cannot read this book and miss taking a look into their own life for ways to change. This fascinating read will compel you to recognize the racial tensions all around you and give you a passion for change. Not only will it inspire you, it will transform you. This book describes Irving's "aha" moments and how she used them to change her worldview. Each chapter ends with questions that would be great for a book club! These questions keep the conversation going. Lastly, Irving ends the book with a section on what you can do for personal change. All around great read, thought provoking, and will leave you ready to take action in your own life. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

What privileges do you receive in America? Do you recognize it or manipulate it for your benefits? Who becomes left behind in our "White Privilege" society? Reading Debby Irving's book opened my eyes to see the community that surrounds me and challenged me to broaden my neighborhood. The book provides thought-provoking challenges and stories of real experiences that heighten awareness of race in America. Use it to facilitate a discussion and/or internally challenge one's belief's and perception of the world. Be courageous, authentic, and honest as you transform your worldview. Keep the conversation going as you reflect and discussion the questions at the end of each short chapter. A quick and compelling read to motivate individual change in your perspective of race in America.

“Whiteness, it turns out, is but a pigment of the imagination.” – Debby Irving

Debby Irving has written an enlightening, boldly honest, and refreshing narrative that describes her awakening to her own whiteness and her personal transformative journey to understand the complexity of systematic racism that is still perpetuated in society. In the preface of the book, Irving reminds readers how important it is to dismantle racial barriers and inequalities that have become entrenched in America’s historically white dominated culture:

“Racism crushes spirits, incites divisiveness, and justifies the estrangement of entire groups of individuals who, like all humans, come into the world full of goodness, with a desire to connect, and with boundless capacity to learn and grow. Unless adults understand racism, they will, as I did, unknowingly teach it to their children.”

In the first part of the book, Irving defines herself as 100% New England WASP and then spends a great amount of time describing her roots, family values, and the affluent lifestyle she had growing up. Her self-awareness of her background and ancestry were the first steps in a “racial learning journey” that required her to step out of her comfort zone and closely examine the beliefs she internalized growing up in a monocultural cocoon of whiteness. One of the major points she emphasizes in the book is that “Understanding whiteness, regardless of socio-economic class and ancestry is the key to understanding racism.” While my background differs significantly from hers, I could still relate to her naiveté and the outrage and shock she experienced when she discovered the “invisible skin of white privilege” had afforded her so many more opportunities than those of people of color.

What I appreciated most about this book is that Irving delves beyond the simplistic definition of racism as prejudice or discrimination against people because of their race and provides insight into the social construct of racism. She uses examples from history, describes the results of race-related sociological experiments, and includes anecdotes from her own life to support her claims. I admire Irving for her unabashed honesty in describing some painfully humiliating experiences in her journey toward understanding.

The last section of the book describes some steps we can all take toward creating an inclusive, multicultural environment and how we can move beyond the anxiety and ineptness we may feel when we try to talk about race. Another major point that resonated with me is how easy it is to judge another person’s experience from our own ethnocentric vantage point as opposed to taking the effort to imagine what it may be like to walk in someone else’s shoes.

The book offers lots of opportunities for self-reflection through the discussion questions posed at the end of each chapter, which encourages readers to become thoughtful and active participants in the reading process. I certainly learned a lot about my own white ethnicity and how it has impacted my understanding of racial differences and the divide that continues to separate us.

Source: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest and fair review.

Debby Irving does an amazing job sharing her powerful journey learning about race and where she stands. This is a heartfelt, loving, sometimes hard story to read. She shares her story with raw honesty. Debby Irving has inspired me to continue on my journey regardless of discomfort along the way. She has inspired me to speak up when I hear something I disagree with. I am honored to be able to explore my past and present to understand in greater depth how I show up in this racial diverse world.

This is such an important book for all white people to read. As a 68 year old white woman I did not realize how much easier life was for me because of the color of my skin even though I grew up poor and had many unmet needs. I still had privilege I did not even recognize. Knowing how our history was so discriminating is important for understanding and sensitivity.

A must-read for all "white" people, with excellent questions for self-reflection. Having spent my childhood decades ago in the author's home town, I find it amazing to see how little the culture has changed.

I recommend pairing this book with Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me for a hard-hitting sense of the cultural contrasts that expose a deep need for intercultural communication, and evoke the passion to make it happen.

Debbie Irving provides an in-depth exploration of the white cultural messages she absorbed growing up from her family, friends and acquaintances. If you were raised in a white family where strong emotions were not welcome and everyone was proficient at talking endlessly about the weather, you’ll relate to her reflections. Her insights shine a light on how white privilege affects us all along with some of the keys to dismantling racism.

A must read for anyone looking to grow in cultural competency and to understand the different perspectives of social justice. Irving does a good job of explaining the experience of being privileged, deconstructing it, and becoming a competent advocate for social and cultural equality.

As a white person this is a challenging book to read. Makes one look at his/her own life. Liked the questions at end of each chapter. Such a serious topic is treated with humor. Her personal stories help to lighten the mood.

A book that illuminates the less discussed aspects of racism in America -- the ways in which whites accept privilege and often don't even see it. I've never before understood that the flip side of a racist society is the advantages offered to white Americans for centuries and the ways that privilege is deeply ingrained in daily life. As a self help exercise, the author even offers some exercises you can do at the end of each chapter to further understand how powerful and pervasive a force racism is in ALL our lives -- black and white.

Even the most active anti-racist will recognize his or her complicity in perpetuating racism in the US. And there are some real OMG moments of seeing how the government has systematically institutionalized racism.

This would be an excellent "must read" book for our nationwide middle school curriculum. However, as a piece of non-fiction writing, the author sometimes took longer to make her points than was necessary, so I found the actual become a bit tedious as the book progressed.

I've been waking up slowly to racism and Debby Irving's book has shaken me awake with her information-packed book. She also presents lots of anecdotes that make the book interesting. Her vulnerability comes through and that helps me trust her. I've recommended it to my local "Not In Our Town" --an organization that works to decrease racism here in Princeton. I hope lots of people will read the book so that we white people will be aware of our role in perpetuation racism and so that all humans will feel they belong in this society.

Just finished it. It was a disappointing and annoying book. The author wakes up, has epiphanies and is convinced she's the first and the rest of us must be informed post haste. Most of us know most of this and have since childhood.
While whites have arranged things on a racial basis in the Americas, her references are only to that. While that's important for her thesis, it gives the impression that whites are the only offenders. Arab slavers took three to five times as many Africans out of Africa to the east than came west. Nowhere in the Middle East or the littoral of the Indian Ocean is anything like Jamaica, Haiti, or even Alabama. That there was an appalling atrocity might be irrelevant to the author's point, but her implication is that only whites did this sort of thing. In addition, of all the folk wanderings in history, only that of whites is reproached.
There are a number of errors in her view of average interactions. For example, "What do you do?" may irritate African-Americans--but I wonder what she would say of an African American who wasn't bothered--and she condemns it as a way of putting people in a box. Not so. It's a lead-in for...."Hey, I was in there last week." "We got a contract from them last year." "Do you know Joe Smith in accounting?" "Never heard of that, what is it?" "No kidding? What do you do when the roads are closed?"
She wants authenticity. Not small talk. A good lead-in for a conversation would be, she says, "What was the most interesting thing that happened to you today?" What does she want somebody to say? "It's terminal." "Went to my ninth funeral with honors. Getting so I can't stand Taps."
Another clanger is when she says police chiefs should equalize patrolling in neighborhods white and colored because the drug use is equal in both. Does she think her readers don't know patrolling is parcelled out by incidence of crime?
Many years ago, in an ed psych class, I was told of a high school principal in a school with a changing demographic. The administration worked hard to have the student government and various extra-curriculars represent the racial proportions as white kids became the minority. Never worked. White kids always ended up in charge. The conclusion was that white kids were more comfortable in structured hierarchies necessary to a functioning organization. One could say of the white kids that they'd been forced into a box of stultifying conformity and obedience. The rest lived lives of joyful spontaneity. Still, the successful organizations were run by white kids. There's "understanding" and there're results. It isn't necessary to conform to the dominant culture, unless you want to swim in the dominant culture. Pick one.
She says Indians are "isolated" on reservations. They're free to leave. Nobody's forcing them to stay there.
My daughter, a teacher, was assaulted twice by black students. The black principal did nothing about it. My daughter took a job at a Christian school for a two-thirds cut in pay and sold jewelry on the side. I suppose it's possible to understand why the kids acted out as they did, but...understanding doesn't keep good teachers. It's easier to "understand" when you're not on the sharp end.
It's hard to think of a chapter that doesn't have some kind of flaw.
Racism exists but she's not helping.
I did some civil rights work at Rust College (HBCU) in the Sixties. When, I should say, those speaking stoutly of The Struggle were soiling themselves at the thought of going south of Cincinnati. I mentioned to a colleague that in six weeks I had not seen a black student reading a book for enjoyment or improvement other than homework. I was excoriated. I don't think the terms "white thing" or "black thing" were in use at the time. But I was given to understand that reading for fun or improvement was a white thing and not to be imposed on black students. Okay. Don't. But the results will be different than if you had. I might "understand" it--I didn't--but that doesn't affect the results. Pick one.

Now she needs to write a book "Waking up Whatever", to describe every soverign nation on earth and why they are privileged. Don't leave out the the store tribes because if you wake up there white you will be in a grave disadvantage. Writing a book about one's own problems implicating a whole race of people because you yourself are having issues is attractive only to those of like mind.

If you are horrified by the recent exposure of racial injustices & brutality, yet you don't know what your role is yet in changing this systemic racism of our society, then start here. Get informed so that we don't keep making the mistakes that allow these injustices to perpetuate. I will be forever grateful for the author's frankness and honesty which is what we desperately need.

White people know that race matters - if you're not white. This book makes the point that it matters that you're white too. It's a personal, poignant and often funny story of a well meaning and caring white woman coming to realize that her race has shaped her attitudes and behaviors toward people of color in ways that prevent meaningful inter-racial dialogue and relationships, even though she doesn't have a racist bone in her body. If you're white you will see yourself in her story, and if you're not, you'll learn how hard it is for white people to realize how society as buried racism so deep that they can't see it in themselves.

This authoress' story might have been understandable had she come of age in the early '60's or before that. I see her situation as one who was, if no longer, a naive, old-school ignoramus growing up in a rediculously over-protected environment: an information vacuum. And now, perhaps with the help of trust funds from Mummy and Daddy she has found a so-called "profession". This book only makes her look more embarrassingly absurd. But she no doubt will make even more money from her fellow guilt-ridden white liberals while she continues to be rediculed, if not openly or directly, as well as being contemptouusly manipulated and exploited by "The Others".

This is book is an absolute must read for White America. Debby's journey with race shows how one can be a good liberal yet steeped in racist thoughts. Yet one can intentionally unlearn those thoughts and actively become an anti-racist. This is a wonderful book that while uncomfortable and personal it's a book that needs to be in the hands of every white person who considers themselves not to be racist.

BOOK REVIEW OF WAKING UP WHITE and finding myself in the story of race
by Debby Irving, Cambridge, Elephant Room Press, 2014, 273 pages.

“If I love you, I must make you conscious of things you do not see.” James Baldwin

And that the author tries to do—and that is what needs to be done for her!

Her blindness begins with the sanctification of Native Americans (pages 4-5, 65) with no awareness of their violence and murderous slavery. My grandfather's story came to mind: In central Kansas in the 1800s, Indian tribes would come to Wacanda Springs for religious sacrifice. All the farmers would gather to show protective force obtaining tense cooperation. The ceremonies proceeded with the farmers always prohibiting the Indians' usual sacrifice of a few young Indian girls to be killed and thrown into the sacred waters. Also, the retaliatory consequences of any plunder and murder of isolated farms, as once was routine, was made clear to these “innocent savages”.

Irving's details on the “the first attempt to categorize humans by skin color” (pp42-43) was illuminating, but she then imposes negativity:
“During these same years, white European colonization of Asia, Africa, and the Americas was
gathering speed, fueling ideas of white dominance and superiority...Entangled in all of this were
white European missionaries bringing Christianity to far-flung parts of the world...In this case,
the white way was not only better in this world but a requirement for entrance to heaven”
(page 43).
Irving is oblivious that power would corrupt any culture which was the first to learn how to sail against the wind. Interestingly, she blindly contradicts herself when she quotes Edmund Burke: “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing” (page 98)--unless dealing with black cannibals or slave torturing Indians or child-selling Muslims? She also quotes Mahatma Gandhi: “Be the change that you wish to see in the world” (page 189)--(words well lived by Stalin and Hitler)--to which must be added “at least Greek virtue” to Gandhi's “change” because “prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude” will be needed if a “good” outcome is to be expected.

“If racism were a person, they would definitely be a bully” (page 219). But she overlooks that victimhood can sometimes be “bullying” too. Irving creates oxymorons (i.e., “a deafening silence”) galore in this book. “White privilege” is a bad-positive while “black victimhood” is a good-negative (or to repeat respectively: “negative-positive” and “positive-negative”)...as if some whites did not have to work for what they have and as if some black deprivations are not affirmatively embraced. The author's obsessional oxymoron-creating peaked on page 197 with a list of behavioral “continuums” categorized as “white” on the left column and “racial healing” on the right. Just so if all is seen as “black and white” and all the world is an oxymoron.

The book closes with profound statements from Father Gregory Boyle, “When we relearn our loveliness, we begin to foster tenderness for our own human predicament. A spacious and undefended heart finds room for everything you are and carves enough space for everyone else.” Unembarrassed, I offer a “loveliness” needing promulgation more than victimhood, color, and spurious racism.

The “loveliness” of the end of slavery: One and a half million Caucasians died in combat or military related activities defeating the South to end slavery. That is three Caucasians died for each of the 450,000 African slaves imported into the Americas from about 1765 to 1865. The same three Caucasians died for every eight American slaves freed among the four million slaves in America at the end of the civil war. Those four million slaves have over thirty-five million descendents in the U.S.. Over twenty-five to thirty million of them are successful using the educational, occupational, and family opportunities available. Another twenty million Caucasians of the North sacrificed and worked hard in the Civil War to support the slavery ending Caucasian army—they too have many descendents who are successful today. All groups still have some members needing help—and life remains as hard as ever for most. Real humans help each other. The paradigms of color and race do not work but harden the heart and melt the brain, because humanbeingness is fragmented and destroyed. All need to focus on “the content of character” from Dr. King and the “quality of intent” from Justice Thurgood Marshall, both teaching, living, and dying for Truth, Oneness, Good and Beauty—which is Loveliness rarely found with mention of color or race. BOOK REVIEW OF WAKING UP WHITE and finding myself in the story of race
by Debby Irving, Cambridge, Elephant Room Press, 2014, 273 pages.

“If I love you, I must make you conscious of things you do not see.” James Baldwin

And that the author tries to do—and that is what needs to be done for her!

Her blindness begins with the sanctification of Native Americans (pages 4-5, 65) with no awareness of their violence and murderous slavery. My grandfather's story came to mind: In central Kansas in the 1800s, Indian tribes would come to Wacanda Springs for religious sacrifice. All the farmers would gather to show protective force obtaining tense cooperation. The ceremonies proceeded with the farmers always prohibiting the Indians' usual sacrifice of a few young Indian girls to be killed and thrown into the sacred waters. Also, the retaliatory consequences of any plunder and murder of isolated farms, as once was routine, was made clear to these “innocent savages”.

Irving's details on the “the first attempt to categorize humans by skin color” (pp42-43) was illuminating, but she then imposes negativity:
“During these same years, white European colonization of Asia, Africa, and the Americas was
gathering speed, fueling ideas of white dominance and superiority...Entangled in all of this were
white European missionaries bringing Christianity to far-flung parts of the world...In this case,
the white way was not only better in this world but a requirement for entrance to heaven”
(page 43).
Irving is oblivious that power would corrupt any culture which was the first to learn how to sail against the wind. Interestingly, she blindly contradicts herself when she quotes Edmund Burke: “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing” (page 98)--unless dealing with black cannibals or slave torturing Indians or child-selling Muslims? She also quotes Mahatma Gandhi: “Be the change that you wish to see in the world” (page 189)--(words well lived by Stalin and Hitler)--to which must be added “at least Greek virtue” to Gandhi's “change” because “prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude” will be needed if a “good” outcome is to be expected.

“If racism were a person, they would definitely be a bully” (page 219). But she overlooks that victimhood can sometimes be “bullying” too. Irving creates oxymorons (i.e., “a deafening silence”) galore in this book. “White privilege” is a bad-positive while “black victimhood” is a good-negative (or to repeat respectively: “negative-positive” and “positive-negative”)...as if some whites did not have to work for what they have and as if some black deprivations are not affirmatively embraced. The author's obsessional oxymoron-creating peaked on page 197 with a list of behavioral “continuums” categorized as “white” on the left column and “racial healing” on the right. Just so if all is seen as “black and white” and all the world is an oxymoron.

The book closes with profound statements from Father Gregory Boyle, “When we relearn our loveliness, we begin to foster tenderness for our own human predicament. A spacious and undefended heart finds room for everything you are and carves enough space for everyone else.” Unembarrassed, I offer a “loveliness” needing promulgation more than victimhood, color, and spurious racism.

The “loveliness” of the end of slavery: One and a half million Caucasians died in combat or military related activities defeating the South to end slavery. That is three Caucasians died for each of the 450,000 African slaves imported into the Americas from about 1765 to 1865. The same three Caucasians died for every eight American slaves freed among the four million slaves in America at the end of the civil war. Those four million slaves have over thirty-five million descendents in the U.S.. Over twenty-five to thirty million of them are successful using the educational, occupational, and family opportunities available. Another twenty million Caucasians of the North sacrificed and worked hard in the Civil War to support the slavery ending Caucasian army—they too have many descendents who are successful today. All groups still have some members needing help—and life remains as hard as ever for most. Real humans help each other. The paradigms of color and race do not work but harden the heart and melt the brain, because humanbeingness is fragmented and destroyed. All need to focus on “the content of character” from Dr. King and the “quality of intent” from Justice Thurgood Marshall, both teaching, living, and dying for Truth, Oneness, Good and Beauty—which is Loveliness rarely found with mention of color or race. SLAVERY UNDERSTOOD....
by Samuel A. Nigro, MD copyright c 2016

Reading about the Whitney Plantation Slavery Museum in Wallace, Louisiana prompts this effort to add to human togetherness rather than fragmentation. Every decent person, learning about slavery, is appalled and overwhelmed with a sense to undo slavery's impact, to help others, and "right a terrible wrong." There is no argument with that and it was a phase I went through until supplemented by what I learned when I studied "slavery" from start to now. One must understand total "slavery" and not just what happened in America, if "slavery" is to be ended and not continued sub rosa or self-created by ignorance.

Like abortion now in most places, slavery was just the way things were, accepted, declared good, and rationalized. Since all peoples were basically tribal, uneducated, and ignorant of other tribal subcultures, they were considered uncivilized and needed control because they shared no values to speak of and were extremely hostile and savage, not surprising to be more bewildered and hostile than peacefully defensive. And the tribal subcultures almost always did the same enslaving to whomever they could control also. So "newly found people" were labeled "property" if you could do so. Thus everything outside of one's own tribe was foreign and threatening. Native Americans were regular brutal torturing enslavers of whomever they captured, as were tribes in Africa and everywhere else. So when "conquered" (or "taken over" for whatever reason), whoever new in charge imposed "slavery"--we "own" you and you must do as we say--You needed to do it or it was going to happen to you. We see it now with the KKK and many "black" yelling groups trying to take over those different. It was and is reality, still a function of lack of shared values and mutual exclusiveness.

"Biblical" slavery was rather benign for the most part. Again, people had little and depended on the leader, prince or nearest landowner for everything, for which one "worked" doing whatever told to do if one hoped for meals, for example. Such was the only way--there were no guilds, unions, trades, professions, employment contracts--so "agreements" were made to "work" for whomever-depended-on/in-charge, for periods of time (Early Christians were noted to voluntarily take over the slavery of another for the agreed upon interval as manifestations of Christian love). It was the culture of survival, and called "slavery" when a more accurate word for the Bible would be "servanthood" (When in the Navy in Holy Loch Scotland in early 1960s, we submarine officers would frequent a nice home for snacks and drinks, where a German girl served and charmed us--she was an slave ("indentured servant") for 5 years and "belonged" to the British owners of the house. She did whatever the owners wanted--I add there was no abuse of any kind.).

"Exploitative" slavery has always existed too as examples are scattered in the Bible. Learning how to sail against the wind, humans discovered new continents and "workers" were needed to build and do what the few new leaders, princes, imams, and owners wanted done on large scales. And thus exploitative massive slavery became the way for the huge plantations of the American South, the expansion and construction of Islam, and for whomever needed a large labor force. Interestingly, the most recent studies reject the "millions" of imported slaves--claiming 450,000 Africans imported to the Americas for about 100 years, with about 500,000 imported to Islam Middle East countries during the same interval. Noted should be that Islam Middle East began slave importing in the 8th Century and did not have to sail against the wind to import massively. Thus it is reasonable to believe that about 500,000 African were imported each century by Islam for over twelve centuries--about 14,000,000 African slaves--and they have no descendents.

Not to be forgotten is the end of exploitative slavery--Such oppressive "slavery" was brought to an incomplete halt (Islam continues) by North American whites--of whom over a million died as casualties and a half-million were severely injured or diseased in the Civil War. The "Fighting Irish" of Notre Dame at the Gettysburg Battlefield comes to mind--where the 600-man Irish Brigade, among its many battles, were given a startling (to observing generals) group absolution by Father Corby, the third president of the University of Notre Dame, and then attacked the South's battlements disrupting the Confederates so much that the North's reinforcements arrived in time to win Gettysburg for the North. Three-fourths of the Irish died there, quickly replaced by more Irish as the Brigade was regularly able to do. That North American Caucasians were responsible for the ending of slavery receives little recognition, when this fact deserves continuous promulgation to help overcome inappropriate bitterness and victimhood feelings, especially in those who self-enslave by over-identifying with the actually oppressed slaves. If today's blacks have the right to be angry with whites whose ancestors freed the slaves, then they should be more angry at blacks whose ancestors did not free themselves and even more angry yet at the Muslims who killed all their slaves not allowing descendents.

Not to be forgotten are the tangible overlooked results of slavery:
1. The descendents of the 450,000 slaves, brought to the Americas between 1776 and the Civil War, reproduced to about 4 million slaves in the U.S. South, freed, at the end of the Civil War. Today, they have reproduced to over 35 million African Americans in the United States alone, most fairly well organized in civilized successful assimilation of millions of African Americans who developed themselves in way impossible in any other country. Indeed, earned-success descendents of African originated slaves are well represented in every North and South American country. That 35 million never-enslaved mostly successful descendents of 4 million freed slaves of the U.S. deserve "reparations", from Caucasians who freed them, is pure self-discrediting unjust exploitative scheming and totally denying of gratitude and opportunity. Freedom isn't free--Everyone must deal with life's unfairness by education, work and family togetherness, and not paralyzing victimhood.
2. The descendents of the 14,000,000 Africa originated slaves brought to Islamic countries of the Middle East cannot be found, even though Islam imported ten times more slaves for over twelve centuries. In spite of Islam's alleged "benign" words about slaves, it is astonishing that there are no surviving well represented "black" civilized groups in the historically slave-receiving Islamic countries, as in the United States for example. Any claim of "absolute assimilation" cannot be anything but just another propaganda piece of lying as the Koran says to do. Only by mindless indoctrination, power-mad fascism or witless ignorance, can Islam appeal to any person with an African background--or maybe today's African backgrounders do not give a damn about Islam's absolute historical destruction of millions of their fellow Africans far exceeding such in the West.
3. Finally, there is the irony of all ironies: being born in the United States is to win life's lottery. All descendents of slaves in the Americas have to ask whether they would be better off in the original country of their slave ancestors. A brief look at Africa makes explicit that they would likely be dead or destitute if their ancestor had not been enslaved in America. And they would not likely have been born at all if their ancestor had been enslaved in Islam. By virtuous self-development, all slave descendents OWE their ancestors more than the paralysis of victimhood or the indecency of "racism" against slavers no longer existing. Instead, virtuous self-development is OWED their ancestors and the millions of Caucasians who stopped slavery.

The Whitney Plantation Slavery Museum, if it has not done so, must HELP overcome the continuing impact of "slavery" by telling more than poor-us victimhood and exploiting the evils done. We cannot do good by just telling the bad even if we bizarrely "feel good" as we tell the bad. The millions of SUCCESSFUL African Americans ("Negroes"--a word wrongfully exterminated by victimhood idiocy), seen often with dignity, class, sophistication, and virtue, need to tell what they DID to succeed and not wallow in pseudo-suffering or promote self-defeating victimhood which makes one a parasite or maybe a "self-created slave"? Successful Negroes are the ones who have really "undone" slavery without oppressing or exploiting others by the latest brand of hypocrisy. There is much more than reviewing the entropic evils of slavery. Human togetherness can occur rather than more fragmentation. Tell the earned successes and of the hard work it took!--what Justice Thurgood Marshall called "the quality of intent" (Truth, Oneness, Good and Beauty) and Reverend Martin Luther King called "the content of one's character" (Life, Sacrifice, Virtue, Love, Humanity, Peace, Freedom, Death without Fear). Actually, color and race have little to do the defeat of slavery--except one and a half million Caucasians died and millions more supported the only effective effort anywhere to stop organized slavery replacing it by opportunities to self-develop. It is time everyone recognizes this including those paralyzed by victimhood.

I'm white. And I'm not ashamed of it. When I see books like this I wonder when. if ever, white guilt will die the death it long deserves. And when will the debt of slavery be repaid, if ever?

OK, blacks were discriminated against. So were native Americans, Irish, Catholics and God only knows who else, but how much self flagellation is enough? Is there ever a point where we can move past this? How many excuses have to be made, how many reverse discriminatory laws have to be passed, when is enough enough?

How many food stamps? How much subsidized housing? How much "affirmative action"? When is enough enough? When?

It is one thing to acknowledge that serious mistakes were made in the past. It is another, however, to keep using those mistakes as a means of empowering people long after the mistakes have been corrected.

And let me ask you this.....instead of dwelling endlessly on the evils of slavery, should we not in the same breath praise the tens of thousands of whites who gave their lives and the futures of their now unborn offspring to have corrected the curse of slavery?

It seems to me that along with the acknowledgement of a great wrong perpetrated, there should be equal praise for those who gave all to correct it. Enough is enough, it's time to move on.

There are few books that will lower one's IQ faster than this smarmy self-centered tome dedicated to the joke called "white privilege." Leftist drivel combined with pitiful and laughable narratives combine to make a it a horrific read. My horror mounted as I realized that some poor students probably had to read this dreck and pretend that it has meaning in order to obtain the mandatory credit in a self-hate course.

Don't bother. Too mushy to have actual thought and too leftist to bother with anything except the usual fascist assumptions.