Customer Reviews

Black on White: Black Writers on What It Means to Be White

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I saw this book in the public library and had to check it out. As a white woman who is concerned about civil rights issues, I felt I had to read it. Well, it was certainly eye-opening and uncomfortable in some places.

These African-American authors and cartoonists, featured in these essays, excerpts, and visual art representations, did not pull back from their feelings and observations. They said what they meant, and meant what they said! Their viewpoints were vastly different from mine, and I had to stop and really THINK about it, sometimes in mid-paragraph. That they were telling the truth, from their perspective, cannot be denied.

Surprisingly candid perspective on the Caucasian American. This was purchased as a text for a course in Communicating Across Cultures an its a keeper. I have not completed the book, but I am 'meeting' an array of writers from a range of era through the 1900's.

You can sit down and plow through, but I am enjoying a small grouping of 'chapters' each time I open it. Then taking some time to consider i just read before taking on another chunk.

Don't expect a book full of anti-white man rants...but a series of snapshots that show us how American culture has not shone their brightest in response to a supposed racial superiority.