Jason Parham, writer for The Gawker, congratulates Janet Maslin’s
annual summer reading list for the New York Times for, at long last, achieving 100%
whiteness. “Maslin’s book selections for summer 2015 all have one glaring fact
in common: each author is—wait for it... wait for it—white.”
Here’s the list’s diversity performance from past years:
2012: 90.4% 20/21 (Exception: Mindy Kaling)
2013: 93.7% 15/16 (Exception: Kevin Kwan with “Crazy Rich
Asians”)
2014: 88% 15/17 (Alarmingly
diverse! Exceptions: Mariano Rivera and Laline Paul)
2015: 100% 17/17 (Total Whiteout!)
Maslin’s list is pretty unforgivable because there are a
number of great books being released this summer by writers of color. Here are
a few books that Parham and The Gawker suggested:
In the Country: Stories by Mia Alvar (June 16)
The Star Side of Bird Hill by Naomi Jackson (June 30)
Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari (June 16)
Flood of Fire by Amitov Ghosh (August 4)
Loving Day by Mat Johnson (May 26, but it still counts)
And, for those lucky enough to get an advance copy of
Ta-Nehisi Coates’ new book, Between the World and Me (September 8)
Parham closes his list of recommendations with a taunt to
Ms. Maslin, “ See, that wasn’t so hard Janet”.
Third and A Mile: The Trials and Triumphs of the Black
Quarterback by William C. Rhoden
Family Properties: How the Struggle over Race and Real
Estate Transformed Chicago and Urban America by Beryl Satter
Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap by
Matt Taibbi
Firefight: The Century- Long Battle to Integrate New York’s Bravest by Ginger Adams Otis
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