Out of Whiteness: Color, Politics, and Culture Paperback - 2001

First line

In recounting the saga of the long hunt for the great white whale Moby-Dick, Ishmael displays a formidable knowledge of cetology and whale lore gained from extensive reading, hearsay, and experience.

From the rear cover

What happens when people in societies stratified by race refuse to accept the privileges inherent in whiteness? What difference does it make when whites act in a manner that contradicts their designated racial identity? Out of Whiteness considers these questions and argues passionately for an imaginative and radical politics against all forms of racism.

Vron Ware and Les Back look at key points in recent American and British culture where the "color line" has been blurred. Through probing accounts of writers who have disguised themselves in order to investigate racism, the growth of the White Power music scene on the Internet, the meteoric rise of big band jazz during the Second World War, and the pivotal role of white session players in crafting rhythm and blues classics by black artists, Ware and Back upset the idea of race as a symbol of inherent human attributes. Challenging recent trends in academia, the authors argue against reconstructing whiteness as a distinct cultural identity. Ware and Back give us a timely reckoning of the forces that continue to make people "white," and reveal to us the polyglot potential of identities and cultures.