Act Like You Know : African-American Autobiography and White Identity

Rating:
Summary: Honesty and Racism: An Odd Mix
Review: Crispin Sartwell's book is not only bravely honest, but it also causes readers to be honest with themselves. As a white man in the south who both feared and romanticized Americans of African descent, I found Crispin's book to be illustrative not only of the epistemology that he frankly addresses, but of my own hidden feelings. Rarely can I point to a single book and say that it changed how I view myself, but this one has.

Rating:
Summary: a good project but........
Review: I think that it's really great that academics are starting to look at majority groups (whites, men, straights) as they do minority ones. And the intro of this book makes the author sound like a progressive, cool guy. However, I am not convinced that these biographies speak of whiteness as he claims they do. I preferred "Critical White Studies" and "Was Blind But Now I See" over this book. In addition, "Stiffed" and "The Invention of Heterosexuality" are better books as well. This was a great project that turned into a book that will just collect dust on my shelf.