Whites: Stories
The excoriating stories in Mark Doten’s brilliant first collection dissect the pathological narratives that shape our culture and country. Narrated by a cross-cutting array of White people—stupid and/or evil, well-meaning and/or blinkered—they spotlight the self-serving logic through which an array of characters struggle to make sense of, and take control of, the story of our time. Doten's characters run the political spectrum from self-righteous liberals and newly woke CEOs to Trump appointees, QAnon adherents, and believers in “replacement theory.” There is an anti-vax nursing home employee, a red-pilled mindfulness coach turned January 6 insurrectionist, the president of a Los Angeles housing nonprofit deemed by the internet to be “WORST KAREN EVER,” an elderly Republican who refuses to believe he’s dying of Covid (spoiler: he does), a pair of teens in suburban Minnesota making TikToks in the wake of a school shooting, and a gay White supremacist who may be a joke on 4chan right now, but will have his revenge.
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While their backgrounds and allegiances differ, all of these characters are united by a ferocious belief in themselves, certain that everything they’ve done can be justified, if you’ll just hear them out. In Whites Mark Doten has written a relentless book that confirms his standing as one of the great satirists of his generation.
Whites: Stories
The excoriating stories in Mark Doten’s brilliant first collection dissect the pathological narratives that shape our culture and country. Narrated by a cross-cutting array of White people—stupid and/or evil, well-meaning and/or blinkered—they spotlight the self-serving logic through which an array of characters struggle to make sense of, and take control of, the story of our time. Doten's characters run the political spectrum from self-righteous liberals and newly woke CEOs to Trump appointees, QAnon adherents, and believers in “replacement theory.” There is an anti-vax nursing home employee, a red-pilled mindfulness coach turned January 6 insurrectionist, the president of a Los Angeles housing nonprofit deemed by the internet to be “WORST KAREN EVER,” an elderly Republican who refuses to believe he’s dying of Covid (spoiler: he does), a pair of teens in suburban Minnesota making TikToks in the wake of a school shooting, and a gay White supremacist who may be a joke on 4chan right now, but will have his revenge.
While their backgrounds and allegiances differ, all of these characters are united by a ferocious belief in themselves, certain that everything they’ve done can be justified, if you’ll just hear them out. In Whites Mark Doten has written a relentless book that confirms his standing as one of the great satirists of his generation.
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Whites: Stories
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781644452905 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Graywolf Press |
| Publication date: | 08/19/2025 |
| Pages: | 160 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 1.00(d) |
About the Author
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