Customer Reviews

White Lies: Race and the Myths of Whiteness

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I decided to buy WHITE LIES after reading a number of really good reviews of it (notwithstanding the weird Kirkus review above that seems to have little to do with the actual book). At first I was skeptical. Just another book, by a white guy no less, on race. Just another guilt trip, I thought. As I started to read the book, I began questioning many of my assumptions and attitudes about race. The book took me on a journey, a journey through fragments of feelings, and ideas, and memoir that I could relate to and that really made me rethink every attitude I have about race, about black people, about my personal relationships with the people I live and work with. This journey was not always easy. Berger's writing can be demanding and even disturbing; but it is also elegant.This book is not just another white guy's self-rightious argument about race. It is gentle call to self-examination that is truly worth reading and pondering.

Mr Berger has, with great courage and strength allowed readers into his own past in order to explain how racism is fostered and taints our every day lives. I am sure, given Mr. Berger's position and reputation it was not an easy task for him to deal with his past let alone display for all. Yet his experiences and those of other contributors let readers understand the insidious nature of racism from personal perspectives without it being a collection of hard luck stories. I found hearing from both black and white contributors so necessary to gain an understanding of what is an increasingly complex issue due to the extent of which it is ignored or deemed to be "cured".Current studies concerning "whiteness" and current modes of thinking concerning race are also looked, making this an extremely well rounded debate. I found this book to be extremely easy to read, both very touching and one of the most intelligent views on racism of late. Ilook forward to reading far more by Mr.Berger on this most important topic in the future and hope his work extends past America in the future.

Maurice Berger's WHITE LIES challenges--the writing is potent, distilled, and very clear; the content probes, through the vehicle of his own life and stories and writings of others, many assumptions, especially those of white people who may consider themselves beyond racism of any kind. The format is different and fresh, full of subtle (and not-so-subtle) surprises about our own attitudes, the world we live in, and the permeation of racism in our culture. The power of whiteness seeps into everything--an awakening to what's always been obvious to non-whites. But it is also a memoir, and equally fascinating in that repect. Here is a man who understands "otherness" and the powerlessness that goes with it. His youth is spent as one who is fiercely intelligent and sensitive, but trapped in his own, often confounding cage of otherness. In particular, the portraits of his parents are compelling, conveying Berger's love and frustration. In Berger's spare language, they come to life, almost jump off the page, as complicated and isolated, from society and each other. What he shows us throughout is profound, disturbing, but somehow hopeful. He portrays, rather than eviscerates, the realities of our society. I saw it more as a wake-up call than a condemnation. His vision is clear, and he opens our eyes as well. It's a book to think about long after the last page is read.

Maurice Berger book is unusual for several reasons. One is that although he is classified as belonging to a "successful" ethnic group that is Jewish. He and his sister encounter virulent rejection from this group. Because of their poverty and down at heel address. (they reside in the projects) and are therefore assumed by their Jewish teachers to be "educationally retarded" Maurice Berger knows what it is like to be on the receiving end of prejudice and how nebulous ethnic definitions truly are. His story is a remarkable one because of the jarring polarity of his parent's stance on race. His mother's panic stricken complexion concealing beauty routine. Did not shock me at all because I know that many of the nuances surrounding racial superiority have their basis in physical aesthetics. Berger rips off the cultural façade by including anecdotes that indicate being born of obvious African decent implies being born physically repellent and socially tarnished in the eyes of whites. He includes the Dictionary definition for "black" and its metaphors comparing it to "white." So that it is made clear that being called "black" is the same as being called "blemished" "dirty" and "unlucky" but white is "pure" "unblemished" and "good." Mr. Berger dismisses American whiteness proclamations of "racial purity" as genetically bogus when he states that white Americans have between 5-20 % African ancestry running through their veins. By this he indicates that he recognizes that whiteness is a social construction hence the "white lies" of the title. For the social and economic privilege derived from being classified as 'whites' many deny their true ancestry

Mr. Berger rightly sees the classification of races as a form of social restraint stemming from economic and political competition. He also believes that most whites know this but won't admit it. He gives an example of homeowners being asked to answer some racial questions after declaring that "allowing blacks into their neighborhood would drag down the property value of their homes" They were each informed that instead of race being determined by fate it would instead be allocated in quotas by the government. They are told that they have been wrongly made whites and will now be made blacks but they have an offer of compensation. How much do they think their "loss" of their racial grouping is worth ? One man said "50 million so that he could live anywhere free from prejudice" another simply stated "that he would NEVER give up his race" Previously they had all been on the defensive declaring themselves non racists. Whilst insisting that blacks imagined slights and racism where there was none to be found. But their own replies belied this assertion making it clear that being born white was so socially advantages and economically valuable in America. That like the art in the Vatican. It was basically priceless.

I found the reflections on his father more intriguing than the ones on his mother. Because of his father's refusal to capitulate to family and ethnic group pressure stereotypes to be a professional success. His father identified with the plight of African-Americans not from guilt. But because he knew that no matter how much you tried to please you could still be rejected for being what you are. Mr. Berger's startling revelation that he scupper's his father's opportunity for domestic happiness with an African American nurse by using emotional blackmail. Is simply shocking when he knew that his father's relationship with his late mother was physically cold and intellectually juxtaposed.

Whenever whites write about race they run the risk of falling into any one of a number of traps: they can be patronizing when expressing concern, dismissive of real problems when trying to be "realistic", genuinely stupid in suggesting simplistic solutions that involve only individual attitudes while ignoring the impact of history, custom and economic factors and, most typically, having no awareness of how their own "whiteness" distorts their views of what MUST be normal and acceptable. Berger's book is unique, in my experience, in not only avoiding these pitfalls but going to great pains to make the reader aware of them. It is said that fish can have no concept of water since that is their only environment. In the same way, most whites are unaware of the weight of racial prejudice that is felt by all minorities, because they are immersed in the dominant culture, while those on the outside are painfully aware that they are outside.

Berger writes from a unique perspective; that of an intelligent and perceptive man reared in public housing in New York, whose mother was a racist and whose father was a supporter of the civil rights movement. He was not only aware of race as an issue early in his life, but was torn between his parent's opposing views while simultaneously trying to apply those contradictions to the people he knew outside the home - largely minorities. The issue seems to have obsessed him, but ultimately in a positive way. This book, part biography, part essay, part reportage, cannot be easily described. It is fragmented and impressionistic, but its focus is clear - to make the reader (and it seems to assume a white reader) really aware of all the unspoken lies that support the privalege of white power in America. It is hard to know whether he succeeds or not. This reader already sympathized with much that he had to say and was impressed with the way he managed to make subtle points clear. Would a real white supremacist be won over? That is doubtful, even if they read the book with an open mind. But they are not the intended audience. Rather, Berger is addressing those whites who like to believe they are not - in any way - racist. Until this group recognizes the subtle ways in which they cling to a privaledged position and the impact this has on minorities, there will be no improvement in race relations.

I enjoyed reading this book very much. Each chapter was a surprise and a pleasure. Some of the digressions seemed puzzling but for the most part everything in the book helped illuminate his theme. This is not a polemic or a Jeremiad, but a soft spoken and carefully thought out piece of writting. Once Berger's point of view seeps into the reader's consciouness, it's hard to see things the same way again.

This deeply personal book is beautifully written and one of the most insightful books I have ever read about race. Berger has done a remarkable thing, writing about a subject that often generates a lot of heat but little light with an emotional connection that is as moving as it is smart and refreshing. At a time when America is more divided by race than ever, this book should be required reading for every American.

As far as books about race, this is a good one. I'm majoring in sociology and most of the book's I've been assigned on "American race relations" are just festivals of jargon disguised as knowledge. This book's knowledge comes from its author's remarkable lived experiences. He sees the world like no other white person I've known or read. I think this book can actually change a few minds. At least I hope so.

My church assigned this book in one of its reading groups. I'm so impressed with Berger's ability to see all sides of the race question. The book doesn't hit you over the head with pedantic ideas about race. Berger is a gentle soul. We need more books in the world like this one.

This is a truly surprising, even startling book. I didn't expect to react to it so emotionally--I was very much moved by the personal stories. They made me think of my own life. By the time I finished the book, I felt as if something had changed in my own attitudes about race in America. I strongly recommend WHITE LIES to anyone troubled by the present state of racial affairs in America.

White Lies is a brutaly honest book abour race. The varied experiences elucidated are gems,things most of us keep hidden. It is also a great read,almost impossible to put down.This book is nothing like the endless pap dealing with race we have been subjected to by the media.