The New York Times best-selling book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged and how these reactions maintain racial inequality.

In this “vital, necessary, and beautiful book” (Michael Eric Dyson), antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and “allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to 'bad people'" (Claudia Rankine). Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue.

In this in-depth exploration, DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively.

Download readers' guides at beacon.org/whitefragility.

Listening Length

6 hours and 21 minutes
Author

Dr. Robin DiAngelo, see all
Narrator

Amy Landon
Audible release date

June 26, 2018
Language

English
Publisher

Beacon Press
ASIN

B07D6XQQRY
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	6 hours and 21 minutes
Author	Dr. Robin DiAngelo, Michael Eric Dyson - foreword
Narrator	Amy Landon
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	June 26, 2018
Publisher	Beacon Press
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B07D6XQQRY
Best Sellers Rank	#2,041 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #3 in Racism & Discrimination Studies #9 in Discrimination & Racism #11 in Anthropology (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5

47,640 global ratings

5 star		74%
4 star		14%
3 star		6%
2 star		2%
1 star		4%

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Sharon c.

Must Read by Black People

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 18, 2023

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I aavoided reading this book because I’m black and assumed her target market was white readers. After racist comments were made by so many white people after Angel Reese LSU player won the college football, I felt really confused by society. I didn’t understand why this white people were so angry and making such racist dog whistle comments calling her classless. So I decided to buy the book and understand what’s wrong with this people.
The information in the book was shocking and it explained confusing situations I have been in when interacting with white people. I went on vacation with some friends and at the beach some guys dressed in suits walked towards the beach. This men looked Indian or Pakistan and obviously wearing a suit is odd at a beach. My white friend in the group commented “They must be terrorists looking for the next target” and then turned to me laughing. I was confused because they were not even Arabs and the comment was racist and why was he laughing and expecting me to laugh as well? After reading the book now I understand this situations are called white solidarity where one person makes a racist joke and the others laugh with him without objection. I guess he assumed I will react the same way his white friends do. I also now understand that most white people think racist jokes don’t make them racist and that’s why they still make them.

11 people found this helpful

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Patrick F

I am walking the bumpy road toward justice and equality. This book, though not perfect, has helped.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 28, 2020

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I, like many in these turbulent times, am learning a lot about racism. I still feel like I don’t have the right language (or good sense) to navigate the pitfalls of expressing myself clearly and without bias or unintended racism. I have come to the point--this book has certainly helped me along--of realizing that, despite my erstwhile claims of being “not racist,” I have perpetuated racist ideas unintentionally and ignorantly and have unwittingly supported systems of power and racist policies to the detriment of people of color. I feel a certain duty to confess. I feel the tightness in my chest and my clammy palms as my baked-in white fragility bristles at the idea of admitting to my privilege and failures to be “not racist.” These, I hope, can be feelings of change building in my chest and the motivation toward sustained action for equality preparing my hands to do the work. My fingers fumble along the keys trying to peck out a reasonable analysis of this book, but ultimately I know I am really just writing about my own response to the presented ideas. I've scanned a few other reviews railing against the authors myopia, but I am instead focusing on what the book has contributed to my personal journey toward anti-racism.

The author starts this book by uncovering a key component of white privilege and therefore fragility: the rarity of needing to view ourselves racially. I am not an impartial, unbiased observer of racial tensions. I am a white person in the midst of a racist society whose structures of power are oriented toward providing advantages to people like myself to the detriment of others. These can be hard pills to swallow as is clear by the vast swaths of humanity who regurgitate them along with their reflexive claims of having black friends or being a good person who doesn’t see race. I’m starting to feel the lumps in my throat from all the hard pills I’ve been swallowing recently, but it feels like my responsibility to at least try to digest these ideas. As she concludes her first chapter, Diangelo writes, “The racial status quo is comfortable for white people, and we will not move forward in race relations if we remain comfortable.”

As the book continues, the author clarifies important definitions for terms like discrimination, prejudice, and racism. A crucial aspect of her definition of racism is the idea of power. Racism isn’t just a pre-judgmental stereotype or negative action along racial lines, but collective prejudice “backed by the power of legal authority and institutional control.” An unbalanced societal power dynamic is required to fuel this systemic racism and it is therefore linked to white supremacy in America. Diangelo supports the somewhat controversial claim, “People of color may also hold prejudices and discriminate against white people, but they lack the social and institutional power that transforms their prejudice and discrimination into racism.” She then continues to build on ideas from the first chapter as she reiterates that whiteness needs to be acknowledged not as a neutral or normal racial state, but a racial identity on equal ground with all others. One’s whiteness, additionally, automatically associates one with the locus of institutional power and structural advantage. Advantages unavailable to people of color in America.

Diangelo then takes some time to trace the ever-mutating history of racism in America, focusing primarily on the evolution and institutional insidiousness of racism post-1960’s. Here she focuses on notions such as color blindness and unconscious perpetuation of racist ideas and structures. Moving on, Diangelo talks of the racial experience of white people who “don’t carry the psychic weight of race.” White people enjoy freedom of access and movement, a collective cultural agreement to eschew racial discomfort, an idealized nostalgia for the good ol’ days, and the ability to view racism as something that happens to people of color rather than something for which white people are responsible.

The book then explores the dangers of viewing racism as a binary disposition. This seems a bit redundant, but the author takes time to address popular apologetics such as “I was raised to see everyone as equal,” or, “focusing on race is what divides us.” In another somewhat repetitive chapter, Diangelo then explores “anti-blackness.” She seems to focus on overt examples of white self-elevation and oppression of black people where her argument may have been advanced further by examining the institualization of anti-black policies in our society.

The next two chapters explore triggers of white fragility and are summarized well in a concluding paragraph: “White equilibrium is a cocoon of racial comfort, centrality, superiority, entitlement, racial apathy, and obliviousness, all rooted in an identity of being good people free of racism. Challenging this cocoon throws off our racial balance. Because being racially off balance is so rare, we have not had to build the capacity to sustain the discomfort. Thus, whites find these challenges unbearable and want them to stop.”

Diangelo goes on to give examples of white fragility in her experience leading diversity training groups. A particularly helpful insight was the trend of white people to make conversations on racial discomfort about their own hurt, suffering, or feelings of being misunderstood. This, she argues, is just another example of white fragility and white privilege. Additionally, white fragility requires that race be addressed in ways that are palatable to white sensibilities. In contrast, the author offers this alternative: “How, where, and when you give me feedback is irrelevant--it is the feedback I want and need.” I particularly appreciated this practical point of racial engagement. I need to listen to and believe people of color’s experience of racism at this time of social crisis (and, of course, on an ongoing basis). “The method of delivery cannot be used to delegitimize what is being illuminated or as an excuse for disengagement.”

In concluding, the author offers some practical pointers for how people can responsibly engage in conversations of race. She notes that, when asked about what white people can do, she challenges them to examine how they have come this far without knowing how to address racism. Maybe it’s a lack of education or exposure or isolation from diversity. She urges that white people take the initiative to examine their privilege and fragility and treat addressing racism as we would a terminal diagnosis of a little-known disease. Research, read, seek out others with experience, do your homework. While her advice and strategies are helpful, I think Diangelo misses a key component which, to be fair, may simply lie outside the scope of her work. Namely, if racism is a systemic issue with white people as the primary benefactors, shouldn’t there be a weight of responsibility for anti-racist white people to actively pursue shifting the power dynamics within these systems? Shouldn’t we move beyond examining assumptions and learning to communicate by taking action for social reform? It seems if one follows her argument to its conclusion, the political ramifications of racism cannot be ignored and white political inaction is tantamount to actively sustaining our unbalanced societal structures. So, I walk away from this book more open to introspection, more careful in examining my positions of privilege due to my racial identity, more eager to accept feedback, and more motivated to be an ally who is active in my pursuit of change for the sake of justice rather than settling back into my comfortable white cocoon of the status quo.

I found this book to be a helpful nudge for white people like myself to engage in racial conversations. It does seem to pull some punches and is repetitive at times, but it nonetheless advocates for movement toward justice and equality and is therefore a worthwhile read.

B+

28 people found this helpful

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FERGG3046

My Family's Legacy of Service to America.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 23, 2020

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Whew!!! Well where do I start? God Bless Dr. D'Angelo! My opinion is that several of the sad small comments were as if not more interesting than the book. Many commenters proved your exact point 1000%. I'm confident you have grown solid steel skin. A little about my life as I feel you research running thr3 my veins. I'm a babyboomer of the 50's. I can relate 100% to your research to the point as if I was the laboratory specimen/rat with tears in the research and development of your book. I was born into a family of successful east coast musicians (son of a DC musical scholar, writer, composer, big band director, former 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and lead trumpeter for Duke Ellington, Cab Callaway, Hal Davis and others and directed band throughout the US) - I was initially introduced to the forces of racism (FOR) at the tender age 10 after forced by city zoning law (Color of Law) to integrate into a all white school at the 5th grade; where I could understand the hate toward me but i endured and made stsrting positions on the school's baseball and football teams but denied membership before the first game and removed from the team due to the Boys Club of _____'s segregation policy; years later forced into a majority white student body high school and played junior and varsity football, wrestled, ran track and offered a sports scholarship. My abilities on the football, track, and wrestling practice sessions were recognized and constantly praised by coaches, however as one of 5 non- white players on my team and non- white humans present in the entire stadium during games causes me or others to never become starters. Later in the military I excelled in physical training, testing, academics GPA and maximum scores on test and marksmanship however the FOR appeared daily for over 20 years of military service from the day of enlistment entrance at the lowest rank in my military speciality field to senior leader on 3 continents and 3 wars leading hundreds of soldiers. I acquited 3 degrees from well known universities during my military career. Subsequently to military retirement the FOR appeared very often over the next 20 as a member of a very well known federal agency representing the US Constitution and Laws. Almost everyday from 1993 to 2016 I was reminded of FOR. I am happy to have had the pleasure and blessings to have read and shared this research phenomenon with my love ones of several races. I'm blessed to have a very diverse circle of family and friends throughout the US, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Dr D'Angelo I feel the blood and tears through my veins in your words and Youtube video. It took me back to the ability to recall and see the named and faced of hatreds since my first experience in 1965. Since Linda Hervieux's book about the untold story of the black soldiers of D-Day Invasion of WWII that acknowledged my father, uncles, and their friends of stories in my home of their WWII experiences, discrimination and pain when I was of 5th grade aged which I didn't understand and they were in their 50s and 60s. I now understand your maxtrix of the system the Forefathers, William Lynch and others established institutional structures during the infancy through The Reconstruction of America. I'm a proud father and grandfather who's often asked questions by my children about my military and law enforcement career. I often tell them "I was a proud soldier. Not because of the 52 medals and awards listed on my DD-214 or hung on my walls; but I was that which many did not want to be. A Soldier, born and raised as an American. Your and Linda's covers a legacy of the men and women in my family's history from 1919 until today. Thank you and may God Bless you and your family. Thank you for your service. You and Linda deserve the Medal of Freedom for you many years of research to make this world a better place. You're a decorated soldier. My weapon was weapons of war. Your is you mind and intellect (Ph'd.) Thank you Doctor. You are a HERO!!!

32 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Rina

Interesting book !

Reviewed in France 🇫🇷 on February 16, 2022

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I liked how she introduced her concept. Well articulated and insightful writing. That's what I call food for thoughts, especially from where I stand. Living in France, I can testify: this kind of books are not popular here, nor even published which is a pity. We need to confront different opinions and thesis on this particular topic.

One person found this helpful

Client d'Amazon

pseudo-academic nonsense

Reviewed in France 🇫🇷 on July 23, 2020

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165 pages of DiAngelo plugging her business and talking about herself with no self-awareness and the worst case of white saviour complex in history. If you want to learn something about yourself and/or racism don't bother. If on the other hand you are looking for an object lesson in critical theory and where academic sociology went horribly wrong, you might find the book interesting.

27 people found this helpful

Anthony Christopher

Absolutely Astonishing.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 21, 2020

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I find it amusing that at no point does the author consider the following possibility- that 'white people' do not react negatively to conversations about race per se, but that it is simply the way SHE has such conversations that upsets people. Since almost all the 'evidence' base for this book is entirely from the authors own experience.....the clear conclusion is that she just pisses people off when she gives her seminars. Should she be surprised that when you tell people that somehow they are not individuals and are a monolith driven by forces that they do not understand....but magically she DOES understand....that they will be pissed off?

Does she make any attempt to actually understand what people who have objected to 'conversations about race' are actually thinking and feeling....of course not because they are white so must all be thinking and feeling the same thing. After all, 'socialisation' is everything. Obviously everyone grows up and watches exactly the same films, listens to exactly the same music, has exactly the same interactions with teachers, different ethnic groups- and reacts in exactly the same way to all of these things- and its all because they are white that this happens. Jesus.

I would want to give the author the following advice: stop addressing people by their group identification, stop making assumptions about people that are unfounded and take responsibility to provide proper evidence for your assertions that consider critically different possible interpretations. If you do that, PEOPLE WILL STOP BEING ANGRY AT YOUR SEMINARS AND PRESENTATIONS. And they will actually listen. People get angry when you demean them, try to mislead them, make unfounded assumptions about them and do not listen to their perspective or give them the respect of feeling the need to justify properly your objections to their viewpoint. The vast majority of people, regardless of race, are happy to have conversations about it- if it is respectful and evidence based. Period.

1,026 people found this helpful

WatfordDave

White, interested in racism, open & wondering of you really get everything on merit?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 20, 2018

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Academic and Referenced yet very readable.
White people in the UK & USA are advantaged and often fail to notice this privilege. People can be very nice, kind and good people who would never consciously discriminate or take an unearnt reward in life. When it is pointed out that they may be practising racism or, at least passively benefiting from it, some may respond with anger or hurt.
This book explains and gives examples of all the above.
It then suggests that rather than being "fragile" white people should pause, reflect and examine the life led and its nuances and how they can work towards challenging discrimination and help work towards a fair and just world in which rewards are given for merit and effort not skin colour.
If that interests you then this is a beautifully written book but if you are unshakably convinced (and a bit angry) that "white privilege" is nonsense and that there's no such thing as racism then steer clear.

198 people found this helpful

should be legal requirement to read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 6, 2019

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It should be a legal requirement for every white person to read this book/ listen to the audiobook. In particular those who (like me) think they're not racist.

Please, please, overcome your defensiveness and give this book a chance. You have nothing to lose and you will not be sorry.

147 people found this helpful

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White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

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