White Rage

Dear Readers,

For the past month I've been acting as a book physician, writing out summer reading prescriptions for people with a few hours to spare. Mostly, I've written out prescriptions for books that will make people laugh or become immersed in suspense. White Rage by Carol Anderson is stronger medicine. Images of black rage abound -- from riots in L.A. to Ferguson, Minneapolis, St. Paul -- but images of white rage are often hidden in the acts of the justice system and in the halls of congress. Anderson has undertaken a history of white rage, and it is shocking from the first pages. Who knew that Abraham Lincoln wanted to rid the country of slaves by sending them to what is now Panama? How many high school classes teach the true history of Reconstruction? With unceasing clarity and calm, Carol Anderson narrates a history so compelling that I could not stop reading. If you're thinking of picking up a true crime drama, why not enlarge your thinking with a true historical crime drama?

This is an extraordinary book and I hope you read it.

For books and readers everywhere,

Yours truly,

Louise