Staff Pick: White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson

Anderson, Carol. White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide. Bloomsbury, 2017

Winner of a 2016 National Book Critics Circle Award, this work recounts the brutal history of the treatment of African Americans following the Civil War.  The author details how new laws and “black codes” allowed the horrors of slavery to continue under other names. She shows how the courts and elected leaders stripped African Americans of the rights that constitutional amendments were supposed to have protected, and how those who tried to stand up for their rights were routinely subjected to the worst violence and brutal murders.  The examples the author shows of the invisible “white rage” against any progress made by African Americans, reveals the true depth of racial hatred and resentment that is a part of our country’s history.  This work is a must read for anyone who wants to understand what African Americans have experienced at the hands of powerful, racist whites, and how systemic racism has persisted through our justice system, our educational system, and all aspects of society to the present day.

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