American Whitelash

A Changing Nation and the Cost of Progress

By: Wesley Lowery

Narrated by: Wesley Lowery

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

An NPR Best Book of the Year • Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year

Longlisted for the 2024 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence

“American Whitelash is indispensable. Really. It is.” – Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Wesley Lowery confronts the sickness at the heart of American society: the cyclical pattern of violence that has marred every moment of racial progress in this country, and whose bloodshed began anew following Obama’s 2008 election.

In 2008, Barack Obama’s historic victory was heralded as a turning point for the country. And so it would be—just not in the way that most Americans hoped. The election of the nation’s first Black president fanned long-burning embers of white supremacy, igniting a new and frightening phase in a historical American cycle of racial progress and white backlash.

In American Whitelash, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and best-selling author Wesley Lowery charts the return of this blood-stained trend, showing how the forces of white power retaliated against Obama’s victory—and both profited from, and helped to propel, the rise of Donald Trump. Interweaving deep historical analysis with gripping firsthand reporting on both victims and perpetrators of violence, Lowery uncovers how this vicious cycle is carrying us into ever more perilous territory, how the federal government has failed to intervene, and how we still might find a route of escape.

Facts

This eye opening truth about what is happening in society needs to be read by these out laddish politicians who think Trump isn’t the voice of this movement.

White Supremacy

A well written and well-read book by a very articulate author. This should make everyone reading it think long and hard on what part they can play in bringing the goal of true racial acceptance, brotherhood, and sisterhood into existence.

Clear and engaging

The author makes a great narrator. Book reveals much that is known about the US in detailed and anecdotal ways that bring the history to life.

Whitelash is real

I learned more about race, white lash, anger and rage in this country. From this book than I have from anything else I’ve ever read. It is a thoughtful examination of how we got to where we are now,division of the country, the racial tensions and white supremacist groups. A very good listen a very good read, and a wonderful author.

Can’t continue to ignore our history

This was hard to listen to but the truth of this book demands that we face our history, as sordid as is. The pain & suffering experienced by citizens of color cannot continue. It is disgusting & heartbreaking that America is still at this stage - in 2023!