Lifting the White Veil: An Exploration of White American Culture in a Multiracial Context

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Authors: Jeff Hitchcock.

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5 customer reviews.  4.0 out of 5 stars.

Lifting the White Veil is a highly readable, information packed, personable and engaging work. One might imagine there is little to say about the experience of being white in America. Hitchcock not only proves this false, he shows why looking at white culture is a necessary step in fostering a multiracial society.

The book draws upon contemporary scholarly thought from a range of disciplines, including history, psychology, sociology, and literary studies. But the author retains a common touch, adding his personal observations and experiences, fusing an informative fact-based presentation with some old-fashioned self-revelation and story telling.

Lifting the White Veil is an uplifting, thought-provoking and hopeful book that will point white Americans in new and fruitful directions, both in terms of self-understanding and in terms of moving toward the actualization of a multiracial society in the United States.

This book really does lift the white veil for any reading willing to admit that there is one--that the way whitefolks see the world is very filtered by white privilege, the idea that we are at the center. Hitchcock's analysis and insights are strinkingly original, while drawing upon studies and classic texts. He intersperses the analytical writing with real-life stories, some from his own experience, some observed. An important well-written book.

Typical of books of this type, it refuses to look at the growing non-white racial privledge. At the university setting, every other ethnic groups enjoys classes which explicity support their cultural biases and whitewash their histories. This used to be true of Euroamericans not that long ago, but now "whitewashing" is the province of non-whites. Most great civilzations practiced "supremicist" behaviors for their dominant groups (read older collections of primary documents from east Asia, the Middle East and Egypt sometime--and you will be shocked to see what is left out of the new "multicultural" history books.) Also, anyone non-white can freely use racial slurs and hate crimes are treated far less seriously when non-whites commit them.
The inherent contradiction in such "whiteness" books is that they want to turn white people into just another ethnic group instead of a dominant one which considers itself the norm, yet they abhor any white seperatist or pride groups. If they (white people) are to be reduced to just another ethnic group they should have the same privledges.

This book is fantastic! Jeff Hitchcock does indeed lift the "white veil" which surrounds many of us each and every day. White privilege is similar to the air that we breathe in that, it is invisible and can be taken for granted. The problem is that the air, or privilege in this case, is not evenly distributed throughout our society and it takes a lot of courage to face up and question the unequal distribution. Jeff Hitchcock has that courage and you see it on every page of this book. He points out the countless areas of our lives where we have a gentle breeze helping to move us along throughout life. A breeze that people from other diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds do not have access to. He also provides a look at some of our history that many of us would prefer to not be associated with. He demonstrates how we all need to play a part in evening out the playing field of oppression if we want things to change. This book is a masterpiece and should be required reading in every high school throughout America.

This book is a must-read for persons who really want to understand diversity fully. The author makes visible what is usually hidden or misunderstood in conversations about intergroup relations--white culture and its immense impact on individuals and society. I particularly liked the book because it written intelligently (lots of facts, references and insights), but it is not too technical for the everyday reader. This is a gem that should be useful for both individual who are looking for insights into diversity and college students too.

Is there such a thing as "White Culture" or is it just a comical concept as in the film "Undercover Brother" --where white people were kidded for a tendency to unstylish clothes and a profound love of mayonnaise on any food? Jeff Hitchcock takes on this controversial and always somewhat raw subject as the matter for a book suitable for college classes or personal reading on culture and society.

While personally, I am more of a classicist in education, favoring something like history classes over race studies and women's studies, I realize that that the dominant parties in any culture write the history books, the anthropology books, the sociology books. And all these books have a viewpoint even when they purport to be "neutral" or unbiased. Jeff Hitchcock's "Lifting the White Veil" is a book well-suited for a class text in "White Studies", "African American Studies" or any sociology class. And I certainly found it an interesting book to read just for personal edification.

Like many others who are "Caucasian" or "European descent", I never thought about a "White Culture" other than to wonder at the differences between my own upbringing and than of people I meet who are Asian or African-American. Hitchcock makes a very valid point: White Culture is not a "neutral" or absence of color. There are cultural values, practices, beliefs, and trends for whites. Nothing comes from nothing--our cultural "mainstream" values have a source and historical background.

The book takes an overview of racial history, including all races in the United States, and their interactions and history. I wished this part could have been much longer, but this is a book of a few hundred, not a few thousand pages. So an overview is what's appropriate. Then the text delves into what white culture is comprised of, and this for me was an eye-opener. I really had never thought much about whiteness and yes, I actually DID dismiss white culture as a sort of "neutral" in race, the very concept that is challenged by this book. Is white culture as distinct as Hitchcock describes it (our hierarchical values, Protestant-derived values, European- or British-derived status values?) It would seem this idea is worth exploring.

This book really is a must for any course in sociological studies that deals with race or dominance of one group over another (women's, Hispanic, you name it.) If a group is to be distinguished as Non-White, it is revealing to know what "white" means. Mr. Hitchcock's thoughts on race may not agree with yours--this is one man's scholarly work. His questions and arguments made me think, and that's what the book intended. Mission accomplished.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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