Rate this book

Searching For Whitopia: An Improbable Journey To The Heart Of White America (2009)

by Rich Benjamin(Favorite Author)

3.6 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1401322689 (ISBN13: 9781401322687)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Hachette Books

review 1: This book took longer than it should have to get through, and I admit, I skimmed a couple of duller chapters (hence the 2 star rating). The premise is interesting-- when population diversity is at an all time high, and people claim they are all for integration, why are white people moving to economically and geographically segregated neighborhoods in higher percentage droves than at any point before in history? The fact that the author is an upper-class black man himself who inserts himself as a sociologist into this white neighborhoods and cities makes for a unique perspective sociologically speaking. Some of the chapters are great, and touch on a lot of perplexing points about race relations and lip service versus reality in our nation's culture, but a lot of them cou... moreld have been left out entirely (the golf chapter? Really? Dishwater dull, and I suspect included only so Mr. Benjamin could write off his golfing expeditions as work expenses- this chapter almost made me put down the book for good it was so mind-numbing and without weight.). Overall, a decent book, perhaps to use excerpts or chapters from for a sociology class reading list, BUT I wouldn't recommend it for pleasure reading to anyone I know unless they are seriously interested in the subject matter because of the book's heavy reliance on geographical statistics, history and lightness in dialogue and personal experience (maybe a 70/30-60/40 split). I think the book would have been more interesting to read had the opposite been true, but, in any case, the information and research is solid and readers will learn quite a bit about the topic if they can wade through the less-intriguing parts.
review 2: I don't know where to begin, I had so many reactions to this book. I put it on my "to read" list after seeing Benjamin moderate a panel discussion at the Brooklyn Book Festival last year and one thing he seems to discount when he talks about rarely encountering personal racism is that he has a very unique presence that makes you feel comfortable right away. Someone else out exploring the fastest-growing whitest counties in American may have had a different experience,On whole, I loved this book, particularly the chapter about Forsyth County Georgia, which has a narrative device that makes you think, what's the point of this? before a really great payoff at the end. I do think the author is way better at ethnography (he calls it anthropology, maybe that's the proper term) and at writing than he is at making policy prescriptions, which is fine, you can't do everything and also trying to solve segregation, structural racism and coded hostility is a pretty big goal! But if it's not a book about solutions, maybe tacking a few thoughts on that onto the end wasn't the best way to go. I felt similarly about his explanation of structural racism, that if it was going to be included it should be way more in depth with a lot more citations. If you weren't already well versed in and on board with the concept, I don't think the explanation in this book would get you there.Anyway, the ethnographic parts of the book, which are most of the book, are really funny and informative. Qualms aside, highly recommended. less

Download links for: Searching for Whitopia: An Improbable Journey to the Heart of White America

Advertising