Not so black and white: a history of race from white supremacy to identity politics by Kenan Malik, London, Hurst Press, 2023, 328pp., £20 (hardback), ISBN 978-1787387769 [Book Review]

Not So Black and White’ is a book which undoubtedly asks the reader to take more than a cursory look at the past to understand our political present. Malik undermines the idea that identity is the necessary locus of belief and values, underscoring – importantly – that we shouldn’t presuppose where an individual’s social or political allegiance should lie on the basis of their ethnoracial background. This review will evaluate Malik’s detailed and earnest attempt at locating and critiquing contemporary identity politics in the history of race and race relations.

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Ethnic and Racial Studies on 16 May 2023, available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2023.2213753