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.

Yellow: Beyond Black and White by Frank Wu

Book Review by Natalie Martinez

Frank H. Wu , author of Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White, explores the issues of race in America. The book has many accounts of racial discrimination and explains to the reader what it is like to be Asian American during his lifetime. Wu’s divides his book into three main messages: the first being the model minority myth and the foreigner syndrome, the second message addresses the problems in America that is attached to race such as immigration, racial profiling, etc, and the third message: resolution brought on by mixed race movement.
The first section about model minority myth and the foreigner syndrome talks about the stereotypes Asians have accumulated. While reading this section, I learned a lot about the Asian culture and some of the negative views people have on Asians. The myth of the model minority of Asians is that all Asians do well in school, especially in science. I don’t believe the myth that every Asian is good at science because everyone is different. Some are good at science some are good at art, hard work is what makes a person good at it. I believe this is an important myth to address because if people were to believe all Asians were good at science then any jobs taken or success observed it is attributed to Asians. This “they” thought is not good because it brings a threatening feeling to an American who think they are taking over. Asians are not “they”, they are American.
Also in this section he brings up the foreigner syndrome. This chapter reviews American history. Because the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, all Asians were discriminated against fair or not. He explains that Asians are continuously thought as foreigners because of their distinct appearance even though some have lived here for generations. His main argument in this section is that Asians should not be contained between these stereotypes but break from the stereotype to live their own lives as they please.
The second section, about the problems of race in America, talks about many incidences of Asian racial discrimination. He goes to explain how difficult it is to escape the racial discrimination from the time of the Japanese internment period. He talks about a time when he was stopped at a Canadian border because he was a suspect. Some Americans believe that Chinese were passing secret information to China ( phone survey may 2001 pg.12). He talks a lot about his childhood, living in a white community, and not being accepted. There are a lot of violent racial discrimination accounts between blacks and Asians accounted in his book. He explains how immigration laws have been set forth which cause more overt racism to all races. Here he includes that other races are to be in included in the problem of race beyond white and black. Wu doesn’t, I believe, emphasize other races enough being that he focuses on more Asian racial discrimination.
The third section is about resolutions. The book reveals the fact that now in America there is a lot of intermarriage and mixing of races. Many Asians are mixing with whites. He even goes to say that many Asian women marry white men so that their children get a better start in America. Wu is very upset with this and so am I with this allegation. He argues here that if Asians team up with other races for the fight of equality, it will be a better chance at winning. I agree with his argument because Asians are not the only ones fighting racial discrimination in America. Other races are fighting discrimination by becoming popular to the public eye. He mentions that Blacks and Latinos are climbing up on their education and popularity and that teaming up with them can help improve civil rights. His overall argument was exactly this that other races should be included in the paradigm of equality and civil rights.
I did not like the way he delivered his argument. For most of the chapter I felt like he was complaining that the blacks were too much involved in the civil rights movement and that Asians and Latinos should be included. It seemed as though he was jealous that blacks were getting more attention about racial issues than other races. This opinion could be completely wrong but maybe the combination Asian and Black crimes he writes about and his animosity towards blacks having too much control in the civil rights department . I don’t understand this approach because eventually he wants to join them. I believe if you want to join a group, one must appreciate what one has done and just join.
Overall, I liked the message of this book. I did not really like the way he wrote because he overdid the examples of Asian struggles. It seemed kind of winy. I think because of his personal experiences he got to emotionally involved in a political issue that should be strong and backed up with concrete evidence across all of America. I think his experience is a little biased being that he grew up in a all white community. I also think he should of put his and his parent’s background in the beginning of the book instead of the end of the book. This would of given me insight to his complaints. But overall, he is right in wanting other races to be included in the paradigm of civil rights and equality.

of una storia segreta : The Secret History of Italian American Evacuation and Internment during the World War II

Book Review by Natalie Martinez

Lawrence DiStasi, author of una storia segreta : The Secret History of Italian American Evacuation and Internment during the World War II, writes how the Italians were treated during World War II. He organizes the book with an compilation of stories written by other Italian authors write about their experiences during World War II. He explains in the introduction that the history of the Italians is not well known. Not many people know that during World War II, the Italians were put into internment camps, relocated, or put on restrictions. He believes this is because not a big percentage of the people put in internment camps were Italian and because of the small number they do not deserve acknowledgement. The main purpose of his book as stated in the introduction is to gain acknowledgement from the government and of the world that Italians were mistreated ( just as the Japanese were) during World War II.
DiStasi begins the book with a story written by him explaining the history of the Italians and the personal accounts of Prospero Cecconi who was one of the 257 Italians interned. Like this story and the many stories of the whole book, the accounts have a similar recurring theme. The theme begins with the news that the Japanese bombs Pearl Harbor. At the onset of this event, the nation goes on national security alert. Because Italy was Allies with the enemy during World War II, Italians were considered enemy aliens. Although this was true, the Italians in America who were born here or naturalized and therefore considered American were forced to relocate, strictly restricted, and put into internment camps without sufficient if any no presence incriminating evidence. Distasi does a great job revealing the history of the Italians and the nature of the event through his compilation method because each story written by other authors brings a different facet of the event making the picture look very true and clear to the reader. Distasti includes stories written by all types of people including women, men, lower class, and of the upper class. The book has many amazing memorable stories that touch the heart. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about the influence and history of World War II.

Wise, Tim. "White Like Me"

Book Review By: Stephanie Lamp

In White like Me it’s kind of hard to see Tim Wises’ main point for writing about this specific topic. He writes about numerous experiences he has gone through and explains why he feels so strongly about being an anti-racist man, but never flat out says “this is my main point.” So if I had to give the main point for White like Me I would say it’s to inform us, the reader how racism is still and always will be a big deal. Wise wants us to not forget the fact that racism is such a horrible thing; he wants us to try and change that through the little things we can do.


Wise starts his book explaining his life a bit, talking about his family and the schools he went to. He doesn’t really start giving specific occasions that he has gone through until the last few chapters of the book. In the first chapters he mostly states his opinion on racism. How he loathes it, and wishes things could be different, criticizing whites all along the way. How horrible white people are and how right when their born they already have a automatic privilege into this world.


I chose this book thinking it was something completely different then what it was. I assumed that this story would be about a man who grew up in a royal or upper class family, and how he saw himself have more privileges then other races around him. White like Me turned out to be the exact opposite of my assumption of this book. He wasn’t a poor man but definitely wasn’t royalty. To be completely honest I don’t think I would have chosen this particular story if I knew it was going to be the way it was. White like Me wasn’t a horrible story, once you read into it more. I would explain it as a difficult read. Wise tends to be very repetitive in this, as a was reading the first few chapters he was pretty much saying what he had said in the first chapter, just worded differently, or added something else here and there.


I think Wise covered the material he wanted to cover perfectly, was it interesting while reading his material? No! to be completely honest I don’t like the way Wise wrote this book. I think he could have caught more interest from the reader if he used more experiences and stories of times when he had seen first hand racism going on. Those are facts people can’t argue with facts, they can on the other hand argue with opinion. I think that’s why he’s criticized so much for writing this book. Not only is he looking down on his own race, but he’s constantly stating his opinion on that matter. Wise I’m sure is a very wonderful man, and I respect him for all the great things he’s doing by bringing awareness to young adults and teens about racism. I just think he could have written this book a lot differently.