American Whitelash

The Resurgence of Racial Violence in Our Time

By: Wesley Lowery

Narrated by: Wesley Lowery

Brought to you by Penguin.

Barack Obama's election in 2008 was a moment of true, unabashed hope. But after two terms shadowed by a growing white supremacist movement, Obama was replaced by an openly nativist administration. So what the hell happened?

In Whitelash, Wesley Lowery places a decade of American carnage in historical context, uncovering the horror that racial violence has wrought in our era. As he looks to America's past to understand the rise of Donald Trump and the 'whitelash' following the election of Barack Obama, a frightening pattern emerges. Every period of perceived black advancement has triggered a violent reaction by white Americans, the old system's beneficiaries. But while America's historical racists were conservatives, fighting to maintain their dominance in the status quo, those Lowery meets today are revolutionaries, self-styled soldiers in a holy war to bring the white race back from what they see as the brink of extinction.

Interweaving deep historical analysis with gripping first-hand reporting on both victims and perpetrators of violence, Lowery uncovers how this vicious cycle is entering ever more perilous territory and how the United States still might find a route of escape.

©2023 Wesley Lowery (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

Wesley Lowery chronicles the most existential racial story of our time: the racist political violence that followed Obama's election, fueled Trump's rise, and continues to threaten our very existence. American Whitelash is indispensable. Really. It is (Ibram X. Kendi, author of HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST)

The rise of white supremacist violence is one of the most important stories in American life today. In American Whitelash, Wesley Lowery guides the reader through the social, psychological, and historical realities that animate this violence. It is both a brilliant and unsettling examination of a part of America that many Americans would prefer to look away from. This book reminds us that we cannot look away. American Whitelash is an essential text, one that further demonstrates why Lowery is one of our country's most important and gifted journalists (Clint Smith, author of HOW THE WORD IS PASSED)