I didn't know what to expect while reading this one since I'm not much of a non-fiction reader, especially on such a heavy topic as this. As I was reading I thought back to all the protests and boycotts that have been happening in the last decade or so surrounding race and equality and how even with all the evidence white people still ignored it. This was an illuminating read and written in such a way that it could be easily read by a wide audience without feeling like you're being lectured.

This was an interesting look at race is America. It looks at the reasons for racism through essays. The essays allow for readers digest the information in small bites. Hopefully people read this to reflect on the reasons behind the actions of others.

Poet, critic, and playwright David Mura begins his incisive analysis of the manifestations of Whiteness by sharing his personal story of being subsumed into White Supremacist ideologies. As a Japanese American whose parents and family were incarcerated during World War II, Mura was raised to assimilate into Whiteness and want to be White. Mura’s take on racial identity has been shaped by a lifetime of living in the shadow of racial stratification.

Against this backdrop, Mura shares his awakening into the realities of race and racial conflict in the United States. In “The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself,” Mura deconstructs the creation and perpetuation of White identity in literary, psychological, theoretical, and other realms. In his essays, he analyzes how historical and fictional racial narratives silence and ignore racism, rendering invisible the experiences of Black and Brown folks. Mura illuminates the different ways that Blacks and Whites perceive, think about, and perform their race. The enduring stories of Whiteness define humanity from a Eurocentric lens, purporting to believe in equality, but failing to see Black suffering. Whiteness denies the existential and persistent threat to Black life, undermining a violent past.

When people deny the existence of and impacts of racism, the oppressive system continues. This book is a timely and much-needed retort to the continuing battle for equity and inclusion of Black-centered history in American schools, libraries and knowledge centers. Reading the book from my point of view as a fellow Asian American, it was a powerful realization that such a thoughtful and insightful analysis is written by someone who is neither Black nor White but whose family and personal history are mired in Whiteness anyway. Mura touches on racial epistemologies and ontologies, breaking down the mechanics of decisions about absolute truth and objective knowledge. His writing is engaging, impassioned and anchored in moral, spiritual, and sociopolitical critiques of the harmful impacts of racism.

This book is a timely and critical read particularly for white people like me. David Mura is a third generation Japanese American - he did not realize he was not white himself until college. This book is a collection of remarkable essays that interrogate the past, the present and outline actions to take going forward. I found these essays to be incredibly concise yet chock full of critical information and sources from others. I appreciate the thoroughness of his approach as well as his own personal feelings of the murder of George Floyd and other black men in the author's city and neighborhood. A compelling and important read. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and University of Minnesota Press for an ARC and I left an honest review voluntarily.

The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself; Racial Myths and Our American Narratives by David Mura is very timely and extremely important. A book that belongs on every library shelf. I felt so lucky to get a copy for myself! I have shared on my goodreads, bookstagram, and booktok!

Thank you net gallery for an advanced copy of this book.
The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself is a series of essays on racism in the US. The author shares how racism has affected him and his community. He also goes in depth to analyze historical systemic racism and works of art reflecting this. There are enough direct quotes that one does not need to be familiar with the source material. I would definitely recommend.

David Mura is an important voice from the Twin Cities in Minnesota. He contributes his experience with racism and white supremacy with solid writing and examples.

This is an important book for the post-2020 cultural landscape in Minnesota.

“If you can’t openly admit the racism of the past, how can you see clearly the racism of the present? The answer is you can’t.” This quote gets at the heart of David Mura’s book: “The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself: Racial Myths and Our American Narratives.” As a white man, seeking to face the realities of racism within our history as a country, within our current systems, and within my own heart, Mura’s writing consistently confronted me with my own blindness, and provided me with “new eyes” to see the truth that we will only be able to deal with racism today if we are honest, as white people, about the racism that has been a part of our country, its systems, and our priorities from the very beginning.
As a third generation Japanese American, it was not until late in his 20’s, after reading a number of Black authors, that Mura finally admitted to himself that he was not white, and never would be. As a result, he reexamined his own racial experiences, the history of his family which included members of his family being interred during World War II, and all that he had been taught by Whiteness to think about race. In his words: “This led him to understand that the stories he had been told by Whiteness about Whiteness were filled with lies, distortions and denials.”
But this book is not about bashing White people, but rather, Mura seeks to open our eyes, as White people, to the realities of racism in our countries’ past, and how that racism continues to impact us today. Whether it comes in the form of racial bias, projection, policies that support the status quo, how we narrate the past, our many myths, or the racial backlash that comes in response to any positive move forward … racism is deeply a part of our culture, and our lives. And racism not only is destructive to Blacks and other minorities, but it is also destructive to us, as Whites.
Whether you are just beginning to learn about the history and reality of racism in our culture, or if you are well read and experienced, Mura will continue to open your eyes to the countless ways that racism pervades our daily lives. I especially appreciated how he opened my eyes to how we as whites tell stories of race that are far different from our Black storytellers. Not only how we tell our national history, and the stories that we leave out; but also from the way we tell stories in both film and fiction.
Mura ends his book by suggesting ways that we, as individual white persons, might undergo true change about race. From practical steps we can take, to the stages that we will experience as we move into these changes. But ultimately, in his words, “you will then have to go out in the world and live and act from your new identity… you will have to be willing to suffer the consequences for telling the truth, for challenging racism in individuals and institutions, in friends and in systems… in doing so, you will discover that you are no longer white as white is defined by America, its racism, and the ideology of whiteness.” If that is something you long for, then I highly recommend this book.
Thank you NetGalley and University of Minnesota Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me review this story. My opinions are entirely my own.

It would be easy to say as a Canadian Caucasian I don't relate to this book and it's true to an extent.

I do however have a duty as a human to educate myself about others, their history and their present .
Stories Whiteness tells Itselves is a wonder book that made connections about the conscious and non conscious racist ways that we think or act.
The structural components of racism starting on page 54 is probably my favorite portion of the book and should be read by everyone.

The book is heavy and at times feels long. It's worth the time and energy committed to it though
A very strong narrative that holds up a mirror and makes me face the lies I tell myself.

Over the years, I have read many books on racial inequality & white supremacy in the US. This book was different. It went right to the core, David Mura went right to the core of the many myths associated with white supremacy in this country & debunked them!! Mura does an excellent job debunking many of the common myths used in racial dialogues, He even used his own experiences with whiteness. Mura begins this book with his proximity to the murders of Philando Castile & George Floyd. Like so many of us in this country, Mura has seen enough & ready to combat the problem.

A special thanks to Netgalley, the author & publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

David Mura's The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself: Racial Myths and Our American Narratives offers a series of essays blending his personal experience while also questioning White American cultural narratives. It is a blended work of personal narrative, literary analysis, history, language and anger. Mura and his family live in Minneapolis, within miles of where George Floyd and Philando Castile were murdered. The work is bookended by Mura's reflections and frustration with the ongoing death of African Americans by police.

Mura's essays are divided into three sections: "The Present Moment," "How We Narrate the Past," and "Where Do We Go From Here?" Each section focuses on it's theme, beginning in the present, and then explaining the present by detailing the past, before offering suggestions for change or personal growth. Across these essays Mura draws from many different sources exploring the language and logic used in perpetuating or challenging our cultural narratives.

Mura draws on his local knowledge of Minneapolis and is able to speak to the predatory or racial focus of the Minneapolis police. He also speaks of seeking to be white in his youth, despite being a Japenese American. This links to his families past treatment, particularly with internment.

Mura frequently draws on the works of others, especially Toni Morrison and James Baldwin. The essay most illustrative of two concurrent narratives speaking to different audiences, is the one focused on the film Amistad, directed by Steven Spielberg versus the novelization of the film written by Alexs Pate, an African American professor, educator and author.

Beyond just explaining how the White American experience became the driving narrative, Mura also discusses how Whites could move beyond it, but they must be wiling. If they are this book is a very useful tool in navigating racial discourse in contemporary America.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing my advance copy.

This book opens with the story of Philando Castile’s murder by police in Minneapolis, a few miles from where David Mura lives. It closes with the much better known story of George Floyd's murder by Derek Chauvin and the subsequent death of Daunte Wright at the hands of Officer Kim Potter in the middle of Chauvin’s trial.

But this book isn’t another chronicle of police misconduct, “bad apples,” and arguments over police funding. I don’t think the phrase “defund the police” appears in the text.

Mura uses these incidents of official violence against people of color as a backdrop to examine what makes white people in North America tick. He calls it “the ideology of Whiteness,” and dates back to the ideas used to justify African slavery. What’s more important, he thinks those ideas and justifications have never gone away in this society. Mura borrows much in developing his theory of Whiteness from the essayist/activist James Baldwin, who gets a chapter devoted to his ideas and is frequently quoted throughout.

Mura reminds us that the best justification for owning people from birth-to-death is to declare those held in bondage subhuman.

Before the 13th amendment ended slavery, any Black person on the street without proper papers could be a criminal, thus drawing attention from the authorities. Almost two centuries later, Driving While Black is still a leading cause for traffic stops. We know how some of those traffic stops end up.

After the Civil War, and especially after the “Redemption” of white power in the South after a decade of Reconstruction, mainstream historians recast the war. No longer a fight for freedom for slaves, the war was a tragedy for both sides. The southern Confederacy, composed of honorable men fighting in a “Lost Cause” for their way of life.

While most of what Mura writes about this period is true, there's a missing piece. He thinks that the fight of the former slaveholders to keep political power dominated the entire post-Civil-War period.

This is not an accurate, complete picture of this period. He seems not to have read either W.E.B. DuBois’ "Black Reconstruction in America 1860-1880," or its modern successor, Eric Foner’s "Reconstruction". There is no mention of the Radical Republicans and Black members of Congress in the period prior to 1876, who fought to bring the ballot to every Black man (though not necessarily to women of any color).

After these chapters, the literature professor turns his attention to modern American fiction, seeking more truths in art about the depth of Whiteness ideology. He compares Jonathan Lethem, William Faulkner, Doris Lessing, and Toni Morrison. The key insight he offers: While writers of color nearly always include white characters, and have to deal with racism in their books, white writers never have the same obligation.

So how does Mura seek to solve the problem of Whiteness? It’s probably a harder slog than getting business and government to stop oppressing people of color.

It goes something like this: The white people reading this book need to abandon their privilege. It’s a four-step process:
* Get educated. Read a lot.
* Hang out with POCs. Listen to them when they describe their reality, especially when it differs from yours.
* Go through the stages of grief (really!) to understand themselves and what it means to abandon privilege.
* Help other white people to transform their lives the way you have.

See? Such an easy task.

This is worth reading, and I’m adding some of his sources to my TBR list.

Thanks to Books Forward PR and University of Minnesota Press for the copy of this book.

The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself is an incredible learning tool, broken off into three sections: the present moment, how we narrate the past, and where do we go from here?. I found myself underlining SO many passages in this book. The way that David writes is so easy to understand and I absolutely flew through this text, which is sometimes difficult with nonfiction. The Brief Guide to Structural Racism in the Appendix is pure gold. But what I appreciated the most that really sets this book apart is David’s focus not just on history, present-day events, and facts, but on what can be done for the future and where we go next. Practicality is often missing from nonfiction texts and I’m often thinking “okay, now what?!”, so I loved being able to have some actionable items when I finished this read.

I’m not sure how to review this book as a white woman. It reads a lot like a master’s thesis, with factual information cited throughout the book. The atrocities perpetuated against nonwhite people astound me. That anyone can treat another human being so abysmally is beyond my comprehension. There are many people who need to read this book, but I’m afraid this book is so damn honest that those people will immediately build a barricade and stand ‘righteously’ behind it. They’ll put the blinders back on and continue with life.
Even when we see it all over the news and allow ourselves to feel it, we white folks really can’t put ourselves in the shoes of the Black man. How do we fix it? Read this book for ideas on how we can learn and continue to take an honest look at the lives around us.

I was asked by the publisher to read an ARC of this book for my honest opinion. It is not an easy read and you’ll get your hackles raised, but I think that’s the point.

I thank University of Minnesota Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a difficult read; and the subject matter is important and essential. It is difficult because of the topic. This is a given and certainly reading about chronic anti-Black racism is easier than living under the oppression and racism this book recounts.

It is also difficult because Mura catalogs many examples of white violence against Black people. I felt it was unrelenting and at a certain point, new insights or new ideas did not arrive with more recent cases of white-on-Black violence. And he repeats, multiple times, the beliefs/thoughts and theories/critiques in one chapter as well as across chapters. I thought this repetition was unnecessary and added to an already dense read. Referring to various studies, statistics and social commentators added to his argument…and it also reinforced a certain academic or professional tone, one that weighed down the reading experience for me.

This collection of social analysis essays with elements of personal commentary and notations is depressing and has a hopeless quality to it. I appreciate that there are no easy fixes. But while I felt that naming the problem is important, I could not see a way out or a way through this very American reality. Yes, it suggests that whites have a huge burden and an overdue “heavy lift.” But how would they begin or why would whites want to address it? That piece seems extremely elusive.

Mura suggests that “if individual Black and person of color sees this true assessment of white people and whiteness (mine: that whites has a delusion about their place in the world), the power of the individual white and whiteness lessens…The ways the white world view us—however that white world affects our outer life—has less and less relevance to the ways we thinks of ourselves.”

I find this unsatisfactory and simplistic…and limiting and unpractical. It’s a start but it places the responsibility on the victim at some level. Yes, it is a concrete first baby step.

The white person must do three tasks, according to Mura. First, whites need to learn more and must come to terms with a level of ignorance or unawareness. And he posits: “If you have no friends of color, there is a reason why you have no friends of color.” Mura’s educate yourself advice is flimsy here.

The other two tasks involve a psychological/spiritual journey similar to Kubler-Ross’s stages of grief and a political commitment by building strength and character to speak out and act. I think Mura makes a good argument about what needs to be done though the mechanics are vague and lofty. Who decides to grieve and to get “grit”? He does not address what would motivate, much less inspire, a white person to embark of such a process. Harry did it because he fell in love but the mere fact that he dated a mixed-race, light-skinned Black woman who would become his wife means he already had some inclination or movement already in place. Why would an average white person undertake a paradigm shift that would be akin to turning their worldview upside down?

I’ll conclude by saying that I agree with his core arguments here. At the same time, I wonder how this title contributes in a compelling and meaningful/practical way. I wish Mura spoke more about how his perspective as an Asian American makes his insights more unique. Yes, he says—in my words—that he was a banana, thinking he was white, and then realized he wasn’t. But how did that process inform the hefty challenge he suggests whites should undertake?

One of the best books on race I’ve read in a long time. If you’ve ever asked yourself why it’s so hard for white writers to accurately portray BIPOC characters and stories, this book offers a good long look at a number of the reasons. Also, I don’t recall another book of this nature that so clearly points out the mental gymnastics and fallacies of logic that are necessary to sustain racism. And! It’s so dang accessible. I *enjoyed* learning from David Mura. He explains every topic in plain English with straightforward sentence structures. That, to me, is a far better sign of mastery of a subject than elaborate vocabulary and sentences that are longer more serpentine than the Nile.

I really enjoyed Mura's writing style. It was comfortable and conversational in a way that allowed him to explain his ideas to the common reader. If you are someone looking to start analyzing white supremacy as a construct and internalized racism in America this a great book to start with.

Solid essays and critiques of white people,s expectations and continued preservation of whiteness and the benefits they receive from one of my favorites. A timely and interesting read, heartfelt and important as we build a curriculum of racial reckoning.

First of all I am baffled as how a man of color can write a book called the stories whiteness tells itself and then proceed to rehash everything we already know that is wrong with America but instead of wanting to heal the nation and talk about racist as a racist he just refers to them as a white. Is it all white people are racist and then he proceeds to tell us that whiteness means… It’s all negative racist prejudice unfounded statements. He starts the book off talking about Fidel Castro and it’s un-justified shooting Mel Fidel Castro is a true victim of police violence as is Breonna Taylor aunt Minnie others but when you keep people define bother color you’re not healing the nation but making the divider even bigger. I don’t know any white person who wants to read about how just because they’re white they’re equal to all these negative things in about how Abraham Lincoln was a racist and other bones he had dug up to prove his point. Until we stop referring to each other as a color and look at people as individuals with opinions up their own then they’ll always be racist and not all of them are going to be white. When we’re so held bent on being the victim that we bring up people who were champions for the logical thinkers in those who know the difference between right and wrong and nagates everything‘s done by calling them a racist I think the problem was with the author. They were many people in our history that have done questionable things but fought for the rights of Black people and other immigrants. John Brown was murdered for trying to help freed the slaves along with four other people and what about the civil rights lawyers who were murdered in Mississippi in the 1960s who were there to help integrate schools if we focus on negative then we’re surrounding yourself with negative and if we keep putting people into boxes then we will stay on this crazy treadmill of ignorance and racism that we’ve been on for years will just be calling it something different. I guess we’re really made me the most angry about this book is one of my biggest pet peeve’s and that is to say all blank people on this way and that is a false statement because not all white people are racist and to start the book up with such a narrative really breaks my heart that will be no healing in this country until we approach each other as the individuals we are I have read dozens and dozens of books about race and how we interact with each other and what we think of each other and the only book I think I have ever read that truly was written to heal and show the different dichotomies of humans that ultimately want the same thing is the book Never Forget Our People Were Always Free. This is a brilliant book written by Benjamin Tod jealous. Now that was the book written to help heal America that looks like this where we further divide ourselves into groups containing white people/Black people/Spanish people or any other group it’s not helping the issue a race at all but adding to it. Spoke with such a disappointment and although I’m sure the author thought… You know what I have no idea what this author thought because it just seems it is the same old narrative that we read time and again not one of those books has yet to change the world I can’t say I recommend this book and the only way I would is if you just starting your journey on race relations in literature because this book hit’s all the High Point slavery Jim crow ET see but if you’re looking for a book to help heal the nation this is not the one. Like they say if you’re not helping the cause you’re hurting it and saying all one race is a certain way isn’t helping at all. We have many issues in this country but I don’t think calling out a whole race for the mistakes of a few is going to help anyone. That is what God is in this position to begin with is to color everybody with the same brush and say well if they’re that color then that means… Because people are not cookie cutters the original looks like this just make me sad. I imagine the ego you must have to be a man of color and think you’re going to preach the white people about how you know what they think and feel when they can explain to them how they can be different… I would’ve been more open to this book and he approached her differently but I don’t have time for generalizations because as I said that’s what got us to this point in the first place. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.g

The Stories Whiteness Tells Itself shows the narratives of white supremacy in movies, classic literature, history, and in Mura’s personal life as well. I really enjoyed Mura’s writing style but I could definitely see people coming to this book with little knowledge/reflection get lost in parts of the book. Overall, this is a fantastic book and I recommend picking this one up! Thank you to NetGalley and University of Minnesota Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.