Not so Black and White
A powerful new history of the idea of race, forcing us to rethink today’s culture wars.
Is white privilege real? Does American history begin in 1619 or 1776? Why has left-wing antisemitism grown? How racist is the working class? Who benefits most, when anti-racists speak in racial terms? These very different questions have all emerged from today’s heated debates around race, identity and culture.
Not So Black and White offers that clarity by taking the long view, explaining the real origins of ‘race’ in Western thought, and tracing its path from those beginnings to today’s fractious world. In doing so, the book upends many accepted views about race, identity, whiteness and privilege.
Leading thinker Kenan Malik interweaves three narratives: the history of the idea of race, from the Enlightenment to the present; the historical and current relationship between race and class; and his account of how we created a world riven by identity politics. Through these histories, he challenges longstanding assumptions, revealing forgotten stories of a racialised working class, and questioning fashionable concepts like cultural appropriation.
Not So Black and White is both a lucid history that rewrites the story of race and class, and an elegant polemic making an anti-racist case against the politics of identity.
ISBN: 9781805260097 | Published: | Trade paperback | pages
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Publishing has a diversity problem. There are less 'diverse' books being published which limits the discoverability and reach of those authors.
Representation is important. Read more about why we exist here.
An anti-racist social enterprise bookstore specialising in BIPOC books.
Only about 11% of books published are by BIPOC authors — so unless you specifically seek out books by BIPOC authors, you aren't likely to find very many of them organically. At Amplify, BIPOC authors are highlighted and celebrated. Here, they don't have to fight to be seen, and you don't have to fight to find them.
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