''White Girls'' is a nonfiction book by
Hilton Als,
published November 5, 2013 by
McSweeney's
McSweeney's Publishing is an American non-profit publishing house founded by Dave Eggers in 1998 and headquartered in San Francisco.
Initially publishing the literary journal'' Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern'', the company has moved to ...
.
Overview
Combining elements of memoir, criticism, fiction and non-fiction, the book's essays create a portrait of "white girls", a category in which Als includes everyone from
Truman Capote
Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...
to
Flannery O’Connor and even
Malcolm X
Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of I ...
.
The book explores themes of identity, otherness, commonality, and interpersonal relationships as a kind of "twinship".
Awards
References
{{Lambda Literary Awards
2013 non-fiction books
English-language books
American memoirs
Works about White Americans
Books about race and ethnicity
McSweeney's books