An accessible introduction to institutional racism in the United States and its ongoing effects.
A psychiatrist explores the legacy of American racism in this second edition of his nonfiction book.
“The problem with America is not that there are too many non-White people,” author D’Agostino asserts. “The problem is that White people are afraid of change and have given up on democracy.” As a white Catholic born in 1940s Chicago, the author notes, he “almost always voted Republican” in Illinois state elections, and he sees himself as “representative of elderly White American males.” After the election of Donald Trump and the growth of the racial justice movement after the death of George Floyd, the author began a journey of self-reflection and contemplation about race in America. The book includes a discussion of how he grappled with Robin DiAngelo’s book White Fragility (2018), and explicitly offers white readers a “primer” on how America’s racial history continues to affect the present. The book’s emphasis on precise terminology will be useful for readers who are unfamiliar. This well-researched book draws on the work of contemporary academics who challenge the conflation of the term racism with prejudice. Prejudice, they note, refers to an unfavorable opinion towards a group, often based on stereotypes, but racism historically manifests as an institutionalized doctrine through government policy. Much of the book centers on the American history of Black and white people, but D’Agostino also devotes chapters in this updated edition to prejudices against women, immigrants, Muslims, and LGBTQ+ communities.
The author has a solid grasp of U.S. history and uses it to explore such topics as the connection between wartime propaganda and Japanese internment camps, and the role of the eugenics movement in fostering racist policies. Perhaps most convincing is the book’s argument that there’s “both financial and political gain in maintaining inequality, and racial inequality sells best,” noting that for many white men, there’s a “tangible benefit” in preserving the status quo. This is the reason, according to the author, that many white Christians “are willing to give up on democracy” to embrace an “authoritarian government,” as they see it as their “only way to preserve their vision of culture.” The book won’t be revelatory for readers who are already aware of the insidious legacy of racism, but it excels at introducing the subject to its intended audience of skeptical white men. Its concluding chapter, “The White Man’s Dilemma,” offers a poignant reflection on the concept of white guilt, highlighting differences between guilt and shame and reminding readers that the purpose of the latter is to “behave better in the present.” D’Agostino admits that he’s not a scholar on the subject of racism or prejudice, but his background as a medical doctor and former president of the Illinois Psychiatric Society brings a learned approach, which blends nuanced analysis with a down-to-earth, conversational writing style. The stories of his personal history with race and prejudice may not appeal to those whose backgrounds and identities differ from his, but they may offer a valuable perspective to his target audience.
An accessible introduction to institutional racism in the United States and its ongoing effects.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9798886546453
Page Count: 378
Publisher: Page Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 8, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.
Words that made a nation.
Isaacson is known for expansive biographies of great thinkers (and Elon Musk), but here he pens a succinct, stimulating commentary on the Founding Fathers’ ode to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” His close reading of the Declaration of Independence’s second sentence, published to mark the 250th anniversary of the document’s adoption, doesn’t downplay its “moral contradiction.” Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people yet called slavery “a cruel war against human nature” in his first draft of the Declaration. All but 15 of the document’s 56 signers owned enslaved people. While the sentence in question asserted “all men are created equal” and possess “unalienable rights,” the Founders “consciously and intentionally” excluded women, Native Americans, and enslaved people. And yet the sentence is powerful, Isaacson writes, because it names a young nation’s “aspirations.” He mounts a solid defense of what ought to be shared goals, among them economic fairness, “moral compassion,” and a willingness to compromise. “Democracy depends on this,” he writes. Isaacson is excellent when explaining how Enlightenment intellectuals abroad influenced the founders. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Declaration’s “five-person drafting committee,” stayed in David Hume’s home for a month in the early 1770s, “discussing ideas of natural rights” with the Scottish philosopher. Also strong is Isaacson’s discussion of the “edits and tweaks” made to Jefferson’s draft. As recommended by Franklin and others, the changes were substantial, leaving Jefferson “distraught.” Franklin, who emerges as the book’s hero, helped establish municipal services, founded a library, and encouraged religious diversity—the kind of civic-mindedness that we could use more of today, Isaacson reminds us.
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781982181314
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
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