I didn’t fully agree with all of the ideas in this, but thought it raised some interesting points. The writing wasn’t the most engaging.

Very powerful selection of essays. As a black woman, I felt that this book could be a conversation starter. This book gave me pause and made me re-think some things. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the ARC of this book in return for my honest reviews. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this review.

Interesting and engrossing. I enjoyed reading the stories of the women discussed in the book. It was hard to digest but I think a book like this leads to healing.

Thought this book would be interesting, to see racism from the viewpoint of white women (which we never really get to see). Unfortunately, didn't really get to see that in the essays. They tried, but it felt like a lot of telling to end up not saying much...or else to come to the point where they mention the author's constellation program, which is mentioned in such 'tease' bites that this book felt a lot like an infomercial/testimonial collection for said program (which is hazy at best and nebulous at worst in all its mentions - what exactly is it?) Should've read the signs there when the foreword delved into that (again without giving anything away) and lasted for almost 10% of the book already. This is an abstract sales pitch for the author's personal coaching program, not a book that goes deep enough into racism per se

As a non-Black woman of color, I have mixed feelings about this anthology. It’s not lost on me that their expressions of vulnerability are influenced by their specific familial and cultural backgrounds. Some essays explicitly weave family history with that of the larger society; Una O’Connell’s examination of Switzerland’s famed neutrality is an especially fine example. I acknowledge that the authors are at different stages of recognizing and articulating their relationship to whiteness, both as it has played out in their personal lives as well as in larger society. There nevertheless remains a self-congratulatory tone uniting these 12 essays. I was hoping for something more advanced than naming which, while undoubtedly important, is merely the first step. Perhaps this is the goal of the book. If so, I’d recommend it for white-identifying (and even white-adjacent) women, especially those who deem themselves liberal/progressive, and who are just beginning to discover this crucial aspect of their identity.

I really enjoyed this collection. I liked all the the essays took a different approach on the topic of whiteness and ancestry. All these authors provided different outlooks and came from different backgrounds. Some were from the US, Canada, Switzerland, even Russia. They all had different religious backgrounds. There were a few essays that I felt invalidated people of different backgrounds from the author. I hope I just read too deep into those parts, but I came out of reading those essays with an icky feeling.