White Girls

''I defy you to read this book and come away with a mind unchanged'' John Jeremiah Sullivan
''Als has a serious claim to be regarded as the next James Baldwin'' Observer

''I see how we are all the same, that none of us are white women or black men; rather, we''re a series of mouths, and that every mouth needs filling: with something wet or dry, like love, or unfamiliar and savory, like love''

White Girls is about, among other things, blackness, queerness, movies, Brooklyn, love (and the loss of love), AIDS, fashion, Basquiat, Capote, philosophy, porn, Louise Brooks and Michael Jackson. Freewheeling and dazzling, tender and true, it is one of the most highly acclaimed essay collections in years.

''A voice that''s new, that comes as if from a different room. I defy you to read this book and come away with a mind unchanged'' John Jeremiah Sullivan, author of Pulphead

''Effortless, honest and fearless'' Rich Benjamin, The New York Times

''Als is one of the most consistently unpredictable and surprising essayists out there, an author who confounds our expectations virtually every time he writes'' David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times

''A comprehensive and utterly lovely collection of one of the best writers around'' Eugenia Williamson, Boston Globe