So You Want to Talk About Race

A #1 New York Times Bestseller

Ijeoma Oluo offers a hard-hitting, revelatory, and accessible examination of race in America.

“Read it, then recommend it to everyone you know.” —Harper’s Bazaar

Protests against racial injustice and white supremacy have galvanized millions around the world. The stakes for transformative conversations about race could not be higher. Still, the task ahead seems daunting, and it’s hard to know where to start. How do you tell your boss her jokes are racist? Why did your sister-in-law hang up on you when you had questions about police reform? How do you explain white privilege to your white, privileged friend?

In So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from police brutality and cultural appropriation to the model minority myth in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and racism, and how they infect almost every aspect of American life.

“Simply put: Ijeoma Oluo is a necessary voice and intellectual for these times, and any time, truth be told.” —Phoebe Robinson, New York Times–bestselling author of You Can’t Touch My Hair

• A Washington Post, #1 Los Angeles Times, and #1 New York Times Bestseller * A Library Journal Best Book of the Year  * A Harper's Bazaar Top Book of the Year  * A Washington Independent Review of Books Favorite Book of the Year * A LitHub Best Essay Collection of the Decade
• "Read it, then recommend it to everyone you know."
  Harper's Bazaar (Top 10 Book of the Year)
• "While so many people want to become 'thought leaders,' 'bloggers,' or even just 'influential,' Oluo is eons past that."
  Forbes
• "Impassioned and unflinching."
  Vogue.com
• "Generous and empathetic, yet usefully blunt...it's for anyone who wants to be smarter and more empathetic about matters of race and engage in more productive anti-racist action."
  Salon.com (Required Reading)
• "Fascinating, real, and necessary."
  The Root
•  "Oluo answers the questions readers don't dare ask."
  Rumpus
• "A must-read primer on the politics of American racism."
  Bustle
• "A guidebook for those who want to confront racism and white supremacy in their everyday lives, but are unsure where to start."
  Bitch
•  "White readers are going to gain insight ... readers of color generally will find camaraderie and a resource."
  Washington Independent Review of Books
• "Valiant, graceful... urgently needed…Oluo pulls the most exasperated of us back from the brink and reminds us what's to be gained from the discussion."
  Seattle Times
• "With a clever approach that uses anecdotes, facts, and a little humor, the author challenges all readers to assess their own beliefs and perceptions while clearly looking at polarizing issues."
  Library Journal (starred review)
• "Insightful and trenchant."
  Publishers Weekly
• "Oluo astutely dismantles issues such as police brutality, cultural appropriation and microaggressions, and the pervasive, poisonous power of racism and white supremacy...balancing the intimacy of a memoirist with the dedication of an investigative journalist."
  Bookpage
• "Straight talk to blacks and whites about the realities of racism.... A clear and candid contribution to an essential conversation."
  Kirkus Reviews
• "With this book, Ijeoma Oluo gives us -- both white people and people of color -- that language to engage in clear, constructive, and confident dialogue with each other about how to deal with racial prejudices and biases."
  National Book Review
• “Simply put: Ijeoma Oluo is a necessary voice and intellectual for these times, and any time, truth be told.”
  Phoebe Robinson, New York Times-bestselling author of You Can't Touch My Hair
• "I don't think I've ever seen a writer have such an instant, visceral, electric impact on readers. Ijeoma Oluo's intellectual clarity and moral sure-footedness make her the kind of unstoppable force that obliterates the very concept of immovable objects."
  Lindy West, New York Times-bestselling author of Shrill
• "Oluo offers us a reset, a starting point, a clear way forward."
  dream hampton, writer, activist, filmmaker, and executive producer of Surviving R. Kelly
• "What Ijeoma Oluo has done, and continues to do, is nothing short of revolutionary -- she has created a conversational guide and laid out a movement-building blueprint for people of all races who are invested in self-assessment, open to being challenged, and committed to collective progress. One of the most important voices of our time, Oluo encourages us to be the conversation starters in our own lives and to keep talking -- someone who needs to hear us is listening."
  Feminista Jones, author of Reclaiming Our Space
• "I am in awe of Ijeoma. She is the smartest, most courageous and electrifying young writer on race relations today -- the voice of our times. Let her be your guidepost. She will make you think and she will make you feel. Follow Ijeoma Oluo and thrill to the challenge, beginning right here with So You Want To Talk About Race."
  Robin DiAngelo, author of White Fragility
• "You are not going to find a more user-friendly examination of race in America than Ijeoma Oluo's fantastic new book. The writing is elegantly simple, which is a real feat when tackling such a thorny issue. Think of it as Race for the Willing-to-Listen."
  Andy Richter, writer and actor