A National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist Winner of the LAMBDA Literary Award in LGBT Nonfiction One of the A.V. Club 's Favorite Books of the Year One of Kirkus Reviews ' Best Books of 2013 "Als is one of the most consistently unpredictable and surprising essayists out there, an author who confounds our expectations virtually every time he writes . Magnificent." --David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times "Effortless, honest and fearless." --Rich Benjamin, The New York Times Book Review "A comprehensive and utterly lovely collection of one of the best writers around." --Eugenia Williamson, Boston Globe "Exhilarating .

audacious." --Jan Stuart, San Francisco Chronicle "The writing itself stands as the most spectacular performance . brilliant lunacy." --Melissa Anderson, Bookforum "Als has a serious claim to be regarded as the next James Baldwin." --Alexander Larman, The Observer (UK) "[Als] deconstructs traditional hierarchies of American identity and creates kaleidoscopic portraits of these artists, and of himself." --Rachel Arons, The New Yorker "[Als's] theories are so original that they'll make you think differently about race and gender whether you're a white girl or not . his sharper ideas will be debated for years." --Melissa Maerz, Entertainment Weekly "This is a book that readers will want to spend the rest of their lives with: a searching, insistent, and thoroughly wise collection.

" --Molly McArdle, Library Journal (starred Review) "Cultural critic Hilton Als might have written the essay collection of the year with this month's White Girls , if indeed it were merely a book of essays. Instead, each piece explores so many genres--melding fiction with fact, the deeply personal to the staid journalistic profile--that Als isn't so much playing multiples chords at once as multiple pianos . Als has created a work of art." --Christopher Bollen, Interview Magazine "These essays defy categorization . This was a book I hated as much as I loved it for the incisive cultural criticism that has made me question nearly everything." --Roxane Gay, The Nation "Als interweaves personal revelation with cultural touchstones, sometimes hopping from topic to topic at a breakneck speed, other times examining concepts so strategically and methodically his words become scalpels, flaying open unacknowledged bias, privilege, and conflict where he sees it." --Andrea Battleground, The A.V.

Club "I read Als not only because he is utterly extraordinary, which he is, but for the reason one is often drawn to the best writers--because one has a sense that one's life might depend on them. White Girls is a book, a dream, an enemy, a friend, and, yes, the read of the year." --Junot Díaz.