White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son by Tim Wise

Book Review
by Alina Mattison

Tim Wise wrote the book White like Me based on the book Black Like Me.  Black like Me is about a man who takes medicine to make his skin darker to look like a black person where as the book White like me is about a white man who is adamant about defying racism. Both of the books are discussing the issue of racism. The book white like me is very interesting because it is about a white person sticking up against racism. Usually the people who are adamant to talk about how racism is really bad are black people or people who are not white.

The point of this book is to tell people about how big of an issue racism is in America. Wise talks about why he decided to be a civil rights activist. In his book there is not particularly one main point. He never states what the main point of his book is. This book is more about the reflections of his life and why he is and believes the things he does. Even though there is not a “main point” so to say, Wise make the reader think about why it is important to be anti-racist. I thought it was a different way of writing because usually the author has one main point to their book. Wise had a different way of writing which did not include one main point to the story.

It is really interesting how Wise organizes his book. The beginning of the book discuses his life. He talks about his family and what is going on when he was growing up. The first part of the book is more of a biography of his life. The second have of the book is a compilation of his life stories. He tells stories about when he is young and stories which are more recent in his life. I thought this was a really good idea to do for the book. Telling stories about his life where Wise has come across racism made the reader feel more up close and personal with what was going on. It made you realize why racism is so bad and why people should fight against it. He was able to organize his thoughts and show the reader first hand why he is a civil rights activist. He discuses how whites should not be automatically privileged right from the start.

Wise talks about his family and how they had an impact on him. Many of the story he discuses in his book deals with his family and what they thought about racism. In particular he talks about his mom. He basically says he is the way he is today because of his mom and her attitude towards racism. Wise says it is inevitable for people to not be one-hundred percent anti-racist. He has a great story which illustrates his idea. He said when his mom was getting older, she started to get dementia. She had to be taken to a nursing home and be taken care of because she was no longer capable of taking care of herself. Even though his mom was strongly against racism her whole life, the racist side of her came out when she was in the nursing home. Wise said she started calling her nurses, which were black, racists name and being quite derogatory of towards them. This was a sad story in his book but it proved a point the was getting at. He goes back to how people can never be completely anti-racist and this story backs up his idea completely. There were other stories in the book about his family and how they impacted his life. Every story he discusses in the book were helpful in further exposing why he wrote the book. He was able to inform the reader why it is so important for people to fight against racism through his stories.

I did not choose to read this book, it was a book I was assigned. For this section I think I would have wanted to read this book over the other available books though. It sounded like an interesting book and I was wondering what is was about because it seemed like it would discuss interesting subjects. I was not sure what the book was about because the cover makes it sound like Wise was a privileged or wealthy kids growing up. It sounded like it would be an interesting book to read and I am glad I was able to read this book out of this section of the books available.

I thought Wise carried out his idea and task very well. He gave enough back ground information about himself and then supported it with stories explaining why he felt the way he did. He made it clear to the reader why he felt so adamant about the civil rights movement. He provided stories and thoughts which made the readers realize what is so wrong with racism. I thought he did a really good job carrying out his task. even though there was not a main point to the book, he showed why it is important for people to try and not be racist and participate against racism.

I thought this book was OK. It had a bunch of interesting information, but at times it seems a little bit redundant. I think he should have had more of a main point to his story. The book was more of a biography about his life and why he is the way he is today then a story. It was entertaining to read but at times it was repetitive. It is not a book I would re-read but I thought its was thoughtful information to read.

Firoozeh Dumas. Funny in Farsi. Random House, New York: 2003.

Book Review By: Jaquelyn McEwen

Funny in Farsi (Random House, New York:2003) is the humorous memoir of Firoozeh Dumas, an immigrant. In her book she tells the many stories that impacted her life growing up Iranian in America. Dumas’s story telling skills are entertaining and captivating for the reader. She has an innate ability to get a point across in a theatrical way and is also able to keep the seriousness of the situation. In the memoir she tells of the little things that she had to get used to being an immigrant and the misconceptions that came with not knowing the American language. Dumas also touches on happenings in her home country that made being an immigrant hard (Iran Hostage Crisis 1979). Dumas starts her memoir when her and her family first arrived in the United States at the age of seven.

The book shows that Dumas is a skilled writer and can be read by anyone. The language used in this book was very descriptive and set the scene well. For example, in one chapter she touched on the multitude of loose weight quick schemes offered in America. While reading of the numerous methods her uncle used I was able to visualize what was going on. This also made the things happening in the book quite funny and I constantly found myself laughing out loud.

Dumas’s writing style also showed how eccentric her family was in comparison to the Americans they encountered daily. She dedicated many of the pages of this book just describing how different her culture views the importance of family compared to the majority of America. Dumas was also able to explain in several occurrences in the book, how her loud family both embarrassed her and made her who she is today. She states in the later chapters of the book that her husband married her not in spite of her family but because of them.

Dumas clearly states (in the afterward) that she did not write this book because she had accomplished any great achievement, but she wrote it because she felt that everyone has a story to tell. Even though she many not feel she accomplished anything great I feel differently after reading this book. She became successful and overcame the many odds that were against her being an Iranian immigrant. Throughout the pages one can read time and again several occurrences that would have held most people back. Dumas on the other hand never gave up and always worked towards achieving a greater goal. One chapter, in particular, stands out to me in demonstrating this point “Girls Just Wanna Have Funds.” While I found this chapter humorous (like many of the other chapters in the book) she made a clear point that one must work hard for there goals, literally. In this chapter she tells of the many jobs that she acquired after worrying she would not be able to afford college at the age of fourteen. This chapter not only kept one laughing, but showed how difficult it was for her as an immigrant to find a good job.

Dumas also was able to portray several different aspects of American culture that she was able to experience. I felt that she was able to illustrate the problems her and her family faced like the multiple schemes (e.g. get rich quick games and loose weight quick) and other recreational activities (e.g. theme parks [particularly Disneyland], summer camp, and vacations) that they encountered in America without being offensive.

I really appreciated that Dumas took a more humorous approach writing about the several culture shocks she experienced moving to another country. It was refreshing and made reading the book easier. Unlike other immigration stories that I have read that make their point by focusing on all the horrible things that were happening Dumas was able to bring light to a sensitive subject. Instead of in a sense dreading what I was going to read next I looked forward to what she had to say. Her ability to use humor definitely worked to her advantage. It made the book fun and a page turner.

My one complaint about this book comes from its lack of chronological order. She jumped around a lot in the book making it hard for me to have a good reference to the time it was occurring. I don’t know if she did this because she felt that the specific date of certain stories was irrelevant and her point was really just what was happening. She did, however, put the dates for important happenings (e.g. first coming to America-1972, going to she the Shah-1977, and the Iran Hostage Crisis-1979).

I choose to read this book after I looked up some additional information on it. After reading several reviews about the book and Dumas’s uncanny ability to incorporate humor I thought it would be an enjoyable read. I was not let down. While the book is small it is packed with funny, serious, and “You’re mother-in-law said what?!” stories.

Overall, I feel that Dumas’s book was very well written and made several impacting points. She was able to show the treatment she received from her Iranian descent before complications with Iran and then after and she made, once again, a funny but powerful point in describing the injustice her family (and fellow Iranians in America) faced: “One kid throws a spitball and the whole class gets detention” (118). While it was here the book took a more serious turn she quickly turned it back to her funny light hearted style and kept optimism.

I personally have never read any books about Iran or Iranians. I found this book to be a nice intro to the culture and not so “in your face” about it. Dumas, allowed the reader to be comfortable and did not put blame on anyone to cause feelings of guilt. The reader was able to formulate their own opinions about the topic. The book was to the point and Dumas does not try to confuse the reader with extreme language. I feel that this is a good book to read that will not take you forever to get through.

Bulosan, Carlos, America is in theHeart, University Of Washington Press, Washington and Landon, in 1973

Book Review by: Stephanie Lamp

In America is in the Heart, Carlos Bulosan is telling us the story of his life as a struggling Filipino. Bulosan tells us how he lived in a small town in the Philippians working with his father on their land. They had a big family so money was always tight. He wanted to go make something of himself so he decides to save his money to go to America, “the land of opportunity!” or so he thought.

From this point in the book Bulosan explains to us his struggles through life in America; how it was difficult to find a place to eat, live and even travel. He had a hard time trusting white people because just when he would give them the benefit of the doubt and feel they were genuinely kind, they would turn on him. It becomes clear that socially he much preferred to spend time with white women then with Filipino women. For one, there were hardly any Filipino women in his circle of friends and two, he felt white women understood him and how his mind worked better then his own native women.

Bulosan does not wrestle with just one subject, but his analyses seems to go along with his story chronologically. He does specifically deal with the developing culture of Unionism throughout the Pacific West, and ties together how it helped, and hurt his countrymen and himself. When he begins to write in the “new world” he gives us insight into the structure of his writing and how it developed overtime and the famous people who influenced him. He always stays on task with what he’s talking about, so it’s a very easy read even though at times the story can become quiet gruesome and difficult to accept. As the reader I did not find myself questioning the truth of what he said, it’s just so hard realize the hardships he, and people like him endured. At the time that other parts of society were not struggling near as critically as these poor immigrants were.

I chose this book because the title caught my eye, and I was interested in reading a biography of a man who went through these kinds of difficulties throughout his life. After reading this book I’m very glad I did choose this specific book. I didn’t have too much insight into the Filipino- American struggle. I learned much.

Buloson did a great job writing his story. There was never a dull moment throughout this book. He obviously had great difficulty finding the time and resources to complete this task, but over the decades it covers he completed it well. He explained in his story that he only had three years of formal education, so in my eyes he did a great job writing a three hundred and twenty five page biography. Since the title of the book indicates how America is in the Heart he does a great job in summing up the way all Americans have toiled, suffered and known oppression, from the first Indian to the Last Filipino pea picker.

Bulosan helps us to understand that America is not merely a land or institution, but America is in the hearts of men that die for freedom and also in the eyes of those that are building a new world. He concludes with a strong statement that

America is the nameless foreigner, the homeless refugee, the hungry boy begging for a job and the black body dangling from a tree. We are all that nameless foreigner, from the first Adams to the last Filipino, native born or alien, educated or illiterate.
We are America!

Roberts, Brian. The American Alchemy: The California Gold Rush and Middle Class Culture. North Carolina Press: North Carolina, 2000

Book Review by Joseph Osorio

The American Alchemy involves a set of a variety of events that occurred in the 19th Century, also known as the era of the Old West. Brian Roberts, the author of the American Alchemy, wrote this book to show the real motives of the forty-niners for migrating to the West in North America. The University of the North Carolina Press published the American Alchemy, on May 2000. The American Alchemy puts both viewpoints of the women and men, with their involvement in the era of the Gold Rush. He focuses on two wrongly speculated myths of the lone male forty-niner, and the restrained hopeless middle class. As Roberts writes the book, he never forgets to include the roles of women, and stories in which they were involved with their husband, fathers, sons or loved ones. The American Alchemy is written to those who seek to learn a little more of the reality of the American Gold Rush, and discover the truth about the about how women could also be classified as forty-niners.

Brian Roberts, at the introduction of his book and throughout the first few chapters, tries to establish the truth about the male forty-niner that migrated to the West. He explains the myths, and opinions of many historians who have wrongly interpreted the male forty-niner. Many of the typical views of male the forty-niner, is alone, independent, no moral conscious, and with no connections to society. When in fact Roberts clears up these false myths, and wrong assimilations of the male forty-niners. He uses the category of class to differentiate between the different society statuses during the era. He goes into depth with the middle class, where the male-forty-niners came from. Roberts shows that these men, who left their family, friends, and comfort of their homes, were in fact well-established men. These men had a business, were economically stable, and had bonds between their communities, and institutions in the East. Roberts also gives many accounts of men, and women with their struggle to succeed, and to maintain a stable life. He gives short accounts of women and how they viewed their loved-ones leaving to the West in order to fulfill their own selfish and wealthy needs. Roberts is able to balance both the views of women, and men in the sense of the perspectives toward each other. The men leave to look for adventure, and fun, while the women stay to take care of the business and support their husbands in their long-term vacation. Roberts shows that even throughout all of this there were some women who supported their husbands, there were those who did not agree with the decision to leave to the West. In all, Roberts gives the audience a perspective between the sexes.

Throughout the American Alchemy Roberts uses a more social history emphasis, and less on a political emphasis. Roberts includes the government of the U.S. and how they viewed the gold rush, but he focuses less on this side and more on the side of the social or community opinions and actions. For example, he explains the opinions and lives of those who were involved in the gold rush, and how many of them were bonded with their community. He shows less the political side of the Old West era and more of the accounts of men and women who were connected with the Gold Rush. Roberts also uses dates throughout the book, to show the timeline and events that are occurring during this time. He uses dates so that one, as a reader, is able to establish the certain events and occurrences that are happening at this time. For example, during this era Roberts does no forget to leave out the beginning of the American Renaissance in history. The reason for the eruption of the American Renaissance was because many readers back at home, in the east, wanted to hear more stories of those in the west, and this became a good way to express their experiences while living the life of adventure, romance, and sentiment. The book gives poems written to their loved ones, stories of their adventurous experiences, and letters of how they felt being away from home. Even through all the writings of these well-educated men, the author does not forget the women’s view on their new situation and how now they saw themselves as the head of the household, because of the men being gone.

As Brian Roberts concludes his book, he restates his argument, about the false myths of the lonely forty-niner. Roberts’s narration and arguments of the era of the Gold Rush was very well written, but he could have done better to make some of his points a little more clear.

Overall the book was very fascinating and interesting to me, because it cleared my perspective on the forty-niner, and showed me the real motives of these men in migrating to the West. The conclusion of the book becomes very convincing in clarifying that the forty-niners were well-established middle class men who had a degree or a certain business in which they thrived from. Brian Roberts says:

there is a lot of doubt, that the gold rush became liberating in the sense of riches and wealth,

In fact the forty-niners were validated in their desire for rebellion and adventure. Rebellion from middle-class culture, and liberation in the form of a new quest.

I would highly recommend this book to someone who is interested in learning more about middle class culture in the 19th century and learning in detail of the incidents and events that occurred during the Gold Rush in both the East coast and the West.