Book review: White lies: racism, education and critical race theory

Jen Simpson reviews the book 'White lies: racism, education and critical race theory' by David Gillborn (2024, Routledge, ISBN 9780367511784).

The focus of White Lies is to explore and critically analyse the impact of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in exposing systematic racism in relation to politics, educational policy and practice both in the UK and US. The book endeavours to negotiate the complex and often contradictory web of ‘evidence’ around CRT to uncover and debunk the falsehoods and fabrications maintained by anti-CRT campaigns and their relationship with racial and educational inequality. As it is a divisive topic, the author sets out the book’s intentions, approach and grounding early on with care and skilful consideration of the range of voices in this field of study. There is a deep sense of attention to detail as well as extensive and rigorous research drawn from a wide range of sources which provide the reader with a detailed and expansive understanding of the context and themes of the book. The references are draw from both scholars and activists as well as media and policy sources both from the UK and the US ensuring a solid grounding and up-to-date background to each chapter. Although aiming to limit the focus to the UK and US it is perhaps too wide for one book though the author does weave the two contexts well and balances the evidence to draw both general as well as specific or localised conclusions.