White Girls

Description

White Girls, Hilton Als's first book since The Women 16 years ago, finds one of The New Yorker's boldest cultural critics deftly weaving together his brilliant analyses of literature, art, and music with fearless insights on race, gender, and history. The result is an extraordinary, complex portrait of "white girls," as Als dubs them--an expansive but precise category that encompasses figures as diverse as Truman Capote and Louise Brooks, Michael Jackson and Flannery O'Connor.
In pieces that hairpin between critique and meditation, fiction and nonfiction, high culture and low, the theoretical and the deeply personal, Als presents a stunning portrait of a writer by way of his subjects, and an invaluable guide to the culture of our time.

Author description

Before working at "The New Yorker, "Hilton Als was a staff writer for "The Village Voice" and an editor-at-large at "Vibe." He has also written articles for "The Nation" and collaborated on film scripts for "Swoon" and "Looking for Langston." The winner of writing awards from the New York Association of Black Journalists and the Guggenheim Foundation, he lives in New York City.