Nonfiction Review: Black Faces, White Spaces

Summary: A little academic, but still fairly accessible and I learned a lot!

This book looks at ways that African Americans are underrepresented in nature, outdoor sports, and environmentalism. The author explores why African Americans might be less interested in these activities (history of racism, etc). She also explores in depth how nature-related materials such as education exhibits and outdoor magazines contribute to this problem by leaving African Americans out of photos and stories. Another highlight is a look at the relationship (or lack thereof) between the civil rights movement and the environmental movement. All of these investigations draw on both academic sources and interviews with individuals from environmental institutions and the communities they serve.

Although this was a slightly more academic read than I was looking for, the author did a great job making it accessible. While there were sometimes sentences I struggled to parse because I lacked the specialist vocabulary, these sections were balanced out by clear descriptions of the author’s goals and findings. Especially as I got into the book, I found that it flowed well and while it sometimes took effort to read, I never felt lost. I also thought the academic approach added a lot of value. I’ve read a decent number of popular works on racism, but almost nothing academic. The way different concepts were formally defined in this book and explored by people who’d devoted their careers to studying racism made this distinct from more popular works and helped to deepen my understanding of how racism operates.

The organization was fantastic. An initial overview and final summary of the books’ contents helped make this substantial book easier to follow. Chapters built on one another, succeeding at the author’s goal of adding meaning by layering different concepts on top of one another. This was a new, fresh, and informative perspective on racism in society that was challenging to read, but which I’m very glad I picked up.

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