White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism -- Robin Diangelo, Paperback

The New York Times best-selling book exploring the counterproductive reactions white people have when their assumptions about race are challenged, and how these reactions maintain racial inequality.

In this "vital, necessary, and beautiful book" (Michael Eric Dyson), antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and "allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to 'bad people' (Claudia Rankine). Referring to the defensive moves that white people make when challenged racially, white fragility is characterized by emotions such as anger, fear, and guilt, and by behaviors including argumentation and silence. These behaviors, in turn, function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and prevent any meaningful cross-racial dialogue. In this in-depth exploration, DiAngelo examines how white fragility develops, how it protects racial inequality, and what we can do to engage more constructively.

Author: Robin Diangelo
Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: 06/26/2018
Pages: 192
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 8.80h x 5.90w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780807047415

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 04/23/2018
Library Journal 06/15/2018 pg. 84
Shelf Awareness 07/13/2018

About the Author
Robin DiAngelo is an academic, lecturer, and author and has been a consultant and trainer on issues of racial and social justice for more than twenty years. She formerly served as a tenured professor of multicultural education at Westfield State University.