Is there such a thing as "white culture"? Jeff Hitchcock thinks so, and he is far from alone in such thinking. In this highly readable book, he explains that concept and argues what steps need to be taken for the United States to become a truly multiracial society. A white man married to a black woman, Hitchcock captivatingly reveals his own personal odyssey of self-discovery about whites living in a multiracial society. Drawing heavily from a wide range of academic sources, he describes the evolution of an "American" culture from colonial beginnings to the present. With detailed historical narration, he tells how, in the midst of a multiracial society, white culture became the "dominant subculture," making "American" culture monoracial (p.96).

In one of many provocative statements, the author suggests that societal margins must exist and, without people of color in this role, the remarkable assimilation of diverse European peoples, coming from a land of centuries-old prejudices between different groups, would not have occurred. He claims that if people of color had been allowed to assimilate, then the center and margins would have been defined along other, nonracial lines (p. 63). Another provocative component of the book is the sidebars scattered throughout that offer intriguing insights ("White Indians"), thought-provoking questions ("Who is white?"), even thought experiments ("Who has the power?").

This book is part of a growing body of literature in white studies, a field that blossomed in the 1990s, and about which Hitchcock devotes a chapter. He explains that white studies essentially focuses on how whiteness led to racial domination and hegemony in which white American culture is simply called American, thereby presuming that Asian, Black, Hispanic, or Native American cultures are not "American" but, instead, racial and/or ethnic subcultures. Yet, white culture and American culture are not synonymous, a point the author repeatedly makes throughout the book.

White culture is a large social and cultural formation comprising a portion of the greater American culture but itself contains many different subcultures. In Chapter 3, humorously titled "Remedial Education for White Folk," Hitchcock discusses these levels of analysis. Cultural variations by region or ethnicity, or among other types of culture (social class, sexual orientation, gender, and organization), do not negate the broader forms of culture. The premise for a white culture existing independent of an "American" culture is that all racial groups are large social/cultural structures with cultural characteristics that change over time.

Because many aspects of culture exist as part of one's taken-for-granted world, he says that whites seldom have a conscious realization of their values, attitudes, shared understandings, and behavior patterns. This unrealized focus works against the desire of many Americans to build a society where race does not matter. Hitchcock argues that race is real and United States society is racially structured. White culture is part of that structure, and although most White Americans want to be part of a larger, multiracial society, their own cultural blindness gets in the way.

Yet, even though its members may not identify their white culture, it is nonetheless real and nonwhites easily recognize it. For example, says Hitchcock. in black culture feelings are given precedence over sensibilities. When a feeling comes upon a person, black culture says it is appropriate to express it, but white culture "works hard to keep the volume down, lest we all go crazy from the demands we place on each other's capacity for self-control." In order not to offend or make a scene, whites "rein it in, and trade spontaneity…for an orderly demeanor and generally predictable and controlled everyday existence" (pp. 115-116). This is but one instance that the author provides. Indeed, he offers a detailed profile of the characteristics of contemporary white American culture in Chapter 6. Similarly, he adds that Asians, Hispanics, and Native Americans each have their own collective cultural values, "situational sense of being," expectations, and behavior (p. 129).

Lacking an understanding of the existence of white culture, says the author, results in the dominant group misinterpreting alternative cultural experiences as racial or else as the personal failings of someone of color. Recognizing its existence could be a first step toward building a truly multiracial society. In the concluding chapter, "Moving Toward a Multiracial Future," Hitchcock proposes a model for "decentering whiteness." It places multiracial values in the center of American life, with white culture alongside all other monoracial groups at the margins. The current racial/cultural structure of a white center with cultures of color arrayed on the margin makes it impossible, contends Hitchcock, to achieve a multiracial society in which race does not determine a person's standing.

It remains to be seen if the nation's changing demographics lead to such a shift, making this racial restructuring an evolutionary reality, or as the author states, a revolutionary proposal. For its valuable insights and thought-provoking concepts, this is a book that is important reading for anyone interested in learning more about what we were, what we are, and what we might become as a society.