Day 190: Writing a Book about “Whiteness,” on Substack

On Substack this week, I “went public” with a post about the book I’m working on — a biography of a State Department bureaucrat named Wilbur J. Carr. I was drawn to Carr’s life because of the questions I found there about racial power, responsibility, and inevitability in the life of “ordinary” people (like me, and Carr, and maybe you).

I’ve wanted to share this journey more publicly for quite a while. Some people in the publishing industry warn against sharing your book topic publicly while it’s a work in progress.

That may be good advice. I’ve decided not to heed it, though.

I agree with what Austin Kleon said in his book Show Your Work!: Times have changed. The days of the artist working mysteriously and secretly for months or years before unveiling (ta-daaa!) the marvelous finished work are over.

In the internet era, creative work is iterative and communal. That’s the theory behind this daily blog of my work as a law professor and immigration clinic director, and I believe even more strongly in applying that principle to my scholarly work.

So if you’re not already a subscriber to How We Got Here, my Substack newsletter, I hope you’ll sign up (here or in the footer below), receive weekly updates from me on the research and writing process, and share your thoughts on this biography of a “White” man who shaped our immigration laws, as it’s being created.

https://alisonpeck.substack.com/p/why-im-writing-a-book-about-white