So you want to talk about race

This New York Times bestseller is essential reading on the issue of race and everything that surrounds it.

Written by Ijeoma Oluo, So You Want to Talk About Race is an essential book for today. In light of recent global events related to white supremacy—from police brutality to the mass incarceration of Black people—the media spotlight seems to be turning to the issue of racism in our society.

Beyond the major issues of public safety and health, this is a topic that permeates our daily lives. Why do we primarily read white male authors in the classroom (and often white European men)? How do you tell a friend they made a racist joke? Why did your friend feel offended when you asked to touch her hair—and how can you start acting appropriately? How do you explain white privilege to your privileged white friend? And how can you help in the anti-racist struggle as a privileged white person?

In So You Want to Talk About Race , Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races on topics ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to issues involving "model minorities" and the right to speak. But always with the goal of making the seemingly impossible possible: creating a space for honest conversations about race and racism, and also about their presence in various sectors of society and aspects of our lives.

In a truthful and straightforward way, So You Want to Talk About Race provides a discussion guide and a proposal for dialogue on race from a Black woman's perspective. This discussion guide, which appears at the end of the book, provides action plan suggestions for people of all races seeking self-evaluation and committed to collective progress.

So You Want to Talk About Race aims to be a tool that will help readers address this topic and help build a better world for people of different races and social classes. Regardless of your socioeconomic status, educational background or experience, or skin color, this can be a valid and extremely useful tool when starting a conversation about race.

“Oluo gives us—white people and people of color alike—the language we need to engage in constructive and informed dialogue about how to address racial prejudice and bias.”

— National Book Review

“At a time when words are misused and then lost their meaning, while the oppressive conditions and systems we should abolish persist, grow, and worsen, Oluo offers us a reset, a starting point, a clear path forward.”

— dream hampton, filmmaker, writer, activist, and executive producer of the documentary series Surviving R. Kelly

“ So You Want to Talk About Race is a book for everyone, but especially for people of color who need to feel seen and heard.”

—Nicole Chung, author of All You Can Ever Know

“Read it, then recommend it to everyone you know.”

— Harper's Bazaar , chosen as one of the 10 books to read in 2018

“An objective and sincere contribution to an essential conversation.”

— Kirkus Reviews