This book can be summarized as How to get middle class America to keep voting against their interests! Although this was written in 2014 , it is disturbingly prophetic in why America will succumb and keep faltering along these fractured lines .

Lopez traces how racism as metastasized over the decades – from hooded, cross burning, horse riding clans to structural racism in 60s laws like “Redlining” , “Bussing” & Jim Crow and finally using coded racial appeals how it used in contemporary political scene “Suburban House Wife” , “Super Predator” ,”Welfare queens” etc.

If you cannot link these seemingly innocuous words or phrases or why should not have anything to do with race – then you must be awaking up from a long comatose. And slicing through any vestigial remnants of logic and reasoning like scalpel in the hands of seasoned surgeon they will ensure that you will connect the dots to race.

It goes back to George Wallace back in the 60s and later by Nixon christened as the “Southern Strategy” – where racism is masked behind race neutral words, only “audible” in the subconscious of the target, a mechanism to trigger fear and hatred. This is not restricted to the GOP, politics on both sides of the aisle have used this although it was pioneered in the deep south and further sharpened in the Republican era.

It should be obvious the book is very critical of the Tea party tactics but Lopez also sites examples in the Democratic years when chances were squandered in repairing the damage done.

Although perfected here and propagated by subservient political punditry and media channels, is yet to be caught on in developing nations like India ; where it is still crude and predictable with middle class and lower strata population kept infatuated with usual theme - Hindu vs “Pick any religion” while disastrous socioeconomic and foreign policies by probably the most incompetent govt in the history of free India that have wreaked havoc and continue too as voters cannot (or will not) see beyond religious (instead of race) lines in case of India.
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Wordy for the sake of being wordy. Otherwise, very good read. ( )

This is a grim but worthwhile overview of how the GOP's Southern Strategy. Given that Trump has massive support when under his tax plan middle-income taxpayers would see a savings of just two-tenths of 1 percent and the wealthiest would receive a 5 percent cut, Ian Haney Lopez's arguments are sadly on target. ( )

I found Dog Whistle Politics utterly fascinating, horrifying and heartbreaking all at the same time. López defines dog whistling as “inaudible and easily denied in one range, yet stimulating strong reactions in another.”López dissects how dogwhistling started in the 1960s and let to the Republican party becoming the white man’s party. He is even handed though and takes Democrats to take as well.

His explanation and analysis of why being “color-blind” is actually harmful is one of the best I’ve ever read. My biggest take away from this book is what Lopez states repeatedly throughout – racism does not equal malice. It is our narrow, modern day definition of racism as overt words and deeds that have led many to believe that we are living in a post-racial society.

In the wake of recent race linked events, like the killing of unarmed suspects by police, this would be an excellent book to recommend to your friends that you would like to educate on what white privilege is and how being color-blind is actually not helpful. I consider myself pretty versed on race issues and I still learned a lot. Highly recommended for everyone. ( )

In Dog Whistle Politics, Ian Hanley Lopez sifts through 50 years of political history to outline the patterns by which our politicians manipulate conscious and subconscious racial prejudices for their own political game. It has been a long time since a nonfiction book (and a scholarly one, if that) brought out so many of my emotions: anger, humor, disappointment, skepticism, etc. I consider myself to be well informed but somewhat non-ideological (or at least ideological inconsistent), and I found myself both nodding and shaking my head throughout this book. While I do not agree with everything the author puts forth in this excellent work, this is a very important book on race relations and should be a must-read for anyone wishing to gain a liberal perspective on the subject. At the very least, it challenged my beliefs on race (which I had previously thought were quite liberal!) and caused me to reexamine my adherence to “colorblindness” and a “post-racial” society. I also have a feeling that I’m going to be more adept at catching racial dog whistles from politicians come election season. ( )