Whiter Shades of Pale: The Stuff White People Like, Coast to Coast, from Seattle's Sweaters to Maine's Microbrews [Paperback]

Christian Lander (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 23, 2010

HOW WHITE YOU ARE!
 
If you thought you had white people pegged as Oscar-party-throwing, Prius-driving, Sunday New York Times–reading, self-satisfied latte lovers—you were right. But if you thought diversity was just for other races, then hang on to your eco-friendly tote bags. Veteran white person Christian Lander is back with fascinating new information and advice on dealing with the Caucasian population.

Sure, their indie-band T-shirts, trendy politics, vegan diets, and pop-culture references make them all seem the same. But a closer look reveals that from Austin to Australia, from L.A. to the U.K., indigenous white people are as different from one another as 1 percent rBGH-free milk is different from 2 percent. Where do skinny jeans and bulky sweaters rule? Where is down-market beer the nectar of the hip? If you want to know the places cute girls with bangs and cool guys with beards roam and emo musicians and unpaid interns call home, you’d better switch off the Adult Swim reruns, put down that copy of The Onion, pick up this book, and prepare to see the white.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Excellent....Few people alive are as deft at this satire as is Mr. Lander. His books are painfully observant, and they take you places that The Daily Show and The Onion, those reliable dispensers of elite wit, mostly don’t. They’re among the prickliest guides through the American status system since Paul Fussell’s ‘Class’ (1983). . . . You’ll find WHITER SHADES OF PALE in that dimly understood and flimsy bookstore subdivision, the humor section. It belongs upfront, where the best new nonfiction walks point.” —Dwight Garner, New York Times

About the Author

Christian Lander is the creator of the popular blog StuffWhitePeopleLike.com and the author of the New York Times bestselling book Stuff White People Like. A one-time Ph.D. candidate and acclaimed public-speaking instructor, he has traveled extensively in the United States and Europe, living among white people and studying their native customs. He presently resides in Los Angeles, where he enjoys such local pleasures as Ray Ban Wayfarers, skinny jeans, yoga, interior design, and crippling debt.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks; Original edition (November 23, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812982061
• ISBN-13: 978-0812982060
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.6 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #68,742 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Christian Lander is the creator of the website Stuff White People Like. He is a Ph.D. dropout who was the 2006 public speaking instructor of the year at Indiana University. He has lived in Toronto, Montreal, Copenhagen, Tucson, Indiana, and now Los Angeles, where he lives with his wife, Jess, a photographer.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars More insightful than ever - oh, and still funny. December 12, 2010

By Matthew Miller

Format:Paperback

Stuff White People Like is, to be blunt, something that very few people seem to get. It's not just an attack on hipsters, and it's certainly not racist, but rather, it's an attack on privilege. The 20 and 30-something upper-middle class kids Lander mocks benefit tremendously from their positions as children of the elite, and have created their own "culture" that reflects their pretensions by affirming their own uniqueness and artistic merit without requiring any real effort. It's also an attack on class (which Lander shows is bound up with race in this country - see the San Francisco white person), and repeatedly points out that in order to advance in a society controlled by the "right kind of white people," you have to parrot their views and affirm their (well-meaning, but sill patronizing) stereotypes, which is ironic considering how tolerant and open-minded they claim to be. This might sound bitter or partisan, but Lander is a young liberal who worked as a PhD student in Lit Crit, so he's as much a part of this group as anyone, and consequently is less hostile than you might imagine. As a member of the group satirized, I can say that while Lander is occasionally harsh, he never comes across as mean spirited, but mostly just disappointed, and even when he is slightly bitter he remains highly insightful.

Of course, all this belies the concern most people (rightly) have: Is this book funny, and is it worth purchasing when his website is free? To the first, I can say that he is indeed quite funny, and to the second, most of the best material was written for the book, so there's plenty of reason to check it out. The individual new entries are quite good (Duke Basketball, Losing Weight, Taxes, Punctuality, etc), but the best part is the addition of white people by city.... The residents of a stereotypically "(right kind of) white" city (Portland, Austin, Asheville) are presented with an illustrated diagram, followed by a series of statements that analyze their strengths and weaknesses (Atlanta white person - might know a black guy, but takes jokes about the South personally, and has a Republican family).

Overall, most of the book is new material, and that new material is consistently funny (especially if you know people like this) while not lacking in valid criticisms of the people mocked. The only area in which this book is lacking is that it has no suggestions for how members of this demographic can better themselves and stop being so self-absorbed. Still, for anyone looking for a humorous (but not superficial) lampoon of race and class in North America, this book is great. Read more ›

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Just as good as Stuff White People Like, if not better (look for the line drawings!) November 24, 2010

By George M

Format:Paperback

As a follow-up to Stuff White People Like, Whiter Shades of Pale is absolutely no less hilarious. This time Lander's focus is more on the geography of whiteness, mainly with 24 dead-on, absolutely brilliant line drawings that depict the prototypical white person from each city/region with callouts of the accessories and icons that make them so...Caucasian. (Seattle guy drinking coffee: "NOT Starbucks. This is some next generation coffee that you can't even begin to understand right now.") The entries, most of which have never been published on the blog before, are equal parts deadpan humor and freakish accuracy. Anthony Bourdain, British slang, products made by people named Tom, promising to learn a new language, not vaccinating children, Christopher Guest movies, and of course, ugly sweater parties. Just to name a few.

There have always been plenty of detractors out there who take Lander's satire too seriously and miss the entire point. Yes, you could call this cultural criticism--but it's way more fun than that. The enjoyment of his books comes from reading his entries on messenger bags or heirloom tomatoes or punctuality and thinking to yourself (with a smirk on your face) that you've been nailed. You're guilty as charged.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars It Just Gets Better November 26, 2010

By Junebean

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I wasn't sure that there really would be enough material for a sequal to Mr. Lander's first book, but he does not disappoint. I was smiling from the first entry to the last and think this outing is better than the first. I ended up ordering a dozen for the holidays - for all my friends he so aptly pokes fun at. Well done!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Review of Lander's 'Paler' April 29, 2011

By Ryan S. Mease

Format:Paperback

Hardly an improvement over its predecessor, Lander's 'Paler Shades of White' presents the same, slow-paced attempt to exploit the stereotypes of affluent white culture. I'll say again that the basic idea of a self-satirical collection of white people jokes for white people is a good idea, but I have to insist that Lander's writing style to too obvious to deliver the punchline. Lander's close look at different 'geographical' white persons is a nice touch, and probably the best part of this book, but otherwise it's just a hampered collection of blog posts that are mildly humorous and disappointingly shallow in scope.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Lander is back with an alabaster vengeance January 31, 2011

By Eric Garland

Format:Paperback

Lander's website and first book hinted at what was to come. While his swipes at coffee, bilingual children, and Whole Foods were spot on, you could tell that the true saga of White People still remained to be told. Whiter Shades of Pale is the "A la recherche du temps perdu" of caucasian socioanthropology, a witheringly funny critique of one of the less introspective sub-species in nature. Where Lander took playful swipes before, he goes straight for the jugular, with deeper insights and much more sophisticated writing. The only flaw in the book is the failure to cover Burlington, Vermont as its own special habitat for comparative literature grad students sporting blond dreadlocks, decrying the capitalist system while driving $70,000 SUVs paid for by their Manhattan parents. But this is forgivable.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars a devastating critique of IKEA-loving, hummus-eating, Huffington Post-reading morons January 1, 2011

By William Irwin

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Like Lander's previous book, this is a brilliant work of sociology as well as a devastating critique of IKEA-loving, hummus-eating, Huffington Post-reading morons who can't think for themselves.I wish I had written it myself!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Just as funny as the first book November 27, 2010

By citylife23

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Its official...I am a white person. I almost fell of my couch laughing when I read about white women not liking Monty Python because their boyfriends always do anoying impressions. I can relate. This is such a hilarious book. I LOVE the line drawings. They are super accurate. My only complaint is that there are many entries in the book that are already on the blog (girls with bangs, the onion). If you liked the first book, you will like the sequel as well.