Title: Act like you know
First published: 1998
Description: Black autobiographical discourses, from the earliest slave narratives to the most contemporary urban raps, have each in their own way gauged and confronted the character of white society. For Crispin Sartwell, as philosopher, cultural critic, and white male, these texts, through their exacting insights and external perspective, provide a rare opportunity to glimpse and gain access to the contents and core of white identity.

Throughout this provocative work, Sartwell steadfastly recognizes the many ways in which he too is implicated in the formulation and perpetuation of racial attitudes and discourse. In Act Like You Know, he challenges both himself and others to take a long, hard look in the mirror of African-American autobiography, and to find there, in the light of those narratives, the visible features of white identity.
Subjects: African Americans in literature, Autobiography, Race relations, Slaves, Race identity, Whites, Intellectual life, History and criticism, African American authors, American prose literature, Slaves' writings, American, African Americans, Biography, Autobiografie, Prose américaine, Blancs, Écrivains noirs américains, Autobiografische Literatur, Ethnische Identität, Autobiographie, Noirs américains, Biographies, Culturele identiteit, Amerikaans, Esclaves, Autobiografieën, Auteurs noirs américains, Identité ethnique, Histoire et critique, Letterkunde, Relations raciales, Écrits d'esclaves américains, Negers, African americans, biography, American prose literature, history and criticism, Slaves, united states, Slaves' writings, history and criticism, White people
Places: United States
LC classification: PS366.A35 S27 1998