Christian Lander: Whiter Shades of Pale: The Stuff White People Like, Coast to Coast, from Seattle’s Sweaters to Maine’s Microbrews; New York: Random House, 2010

I saw Christian Lander in San Francisco on Tuesday, December 2nd, speaking to a tiny sweater-clad audience at a small independent bookstore in the Marina District. Lander told the story of the amazing success of his blog Stuff White People Like which in about six months grew from a private joke to a New York Times bestselling book (with a reported $300,000 advance). (See Christopher Donovan’s review of the Stuff White People Like book.)

In his talk, Lander made it very clear that he is not talking about all White people, but just “the right kind of White people,” as opposed to “the wrong kind of White people.”

The right kind of White people are urban, college-educated, and from upper-middle and upper-class backgrounds. And, most importantly, they are liberal. Read more