Born with mixed-race heritage to parents who were born as slaves, Walter F. White's skin was light enough that he could easily "pass" as white. A leader of the Harlem Renaissance and an important member of the NAACP, White used his ability to lead a dual life, going undercover to investigate some of the worst racist murders in America, White used is access to shape public opinion, push forward the Civil Rights Movement, and alter the mission of the NAACP toward legal and political activism.

I absolutely loved A. J. Baime's biography of Walter F. White, which I picked up only because I loved his previous book on autoracing, Go Like Hell. Unsurprisingly, I had never heard of the NAACP leader and activist who had a handle in almost every major civil rights advance from 1920 to 1950. Baime focuses on White's life and details the race relations that wove through the decades of American history, making it a fascinating, albeit sobering, read.