White Noise

We need to talk about white identity, says Eric Kaufmann at the start of this prickly, panicky book about the anxieties felt by pale-­faced conservatives fearful of being swamped by people who look different.

How is your typical liberal Canadian, immersed in the modern ideals of multiculturalism and unafraid of a beige-­tinted future, supposed to reply? Are you sure this is such a good idea?

Any conversation centred on “white identity” and the goals of a so-called white majority threatened by the otherness of immigrants is bound to give offence, if not actually fuel a race war — because the vocal reclaiming of white rights, particularly when the core values of that loose-­knit majority are being defined by populist troublemakers, can come only at the expense of vulnerable minorities. Sure, let’s have that ­conversation.

To do so in the style that Kaufmann has adopted — with disgruntled white-identity supporters getting to whinge about...