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White Lies: The Double Life of Walter F. White and America's Darkest Secret
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About This Book
A riveting biography of Walter White, a little-known Black civil rights leader who passed for white in order to investigate racist murders, help put the NAACP on the map, and change the racial identity of America foreverWalter White led two lives: one as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance and the NAACP in the early twentieth century; the other as a white newspaperman who covered lynching crimes in the Deep South at the blazing height of racial violence. Born mixed race and with very fair skin and straight hair, White was able to "pass" for white. He leveraged this ambiguity as a reporter, bringing to light the darkest crimes in America and helping to plant the seeds of the civil rights movement. White's risky career led him to lead a double life. He was simultaneously a second-class citizen subject to Jim Crow laws at home and a widely respected professional with full access to the white world at work. His life was fraught with internal and external conflict—much like the story of race in America. Starting out as an obscure activist, White ultimately became Black America's most prominent leader. A character study of White's life and career with all these complexities has never been rendered, until now. By the award-winning, best-selling author of The Accidental President,Dewey Defeats Truman, and The Arsenal of Democracy,White Lies uncovers the life of a civil rights leader unlike any other.
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Reviews
"Baime seamlessly interweaves White's harrowing investigations with his life in Harlem, where he was at the epicenter of a flowering of a Black arts and activism scene ..."
"Baime details those difficulties, but he never really grapples with the racial dynamics behind them."
"In White Lies, Baime engagingly points the spotlight on one of the most significant figures in American history, whose story deserves to be far more widely known."
"A well-constructed life of a man who, largely forgotten, deserves pride of place in civil rights history."
"Revives the memory of NAACP executive director Walter White, especially his advocacy to outlaw lynchings ..."
"Strangely, Baime and his editors have decided to refer to their historical protagonist by his first name throughout the text, presumably to avoid the mild stylistic complexity of writing about a white-passing Black man named White confronting white people in the name of Black freedom."
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