What's the Problem Now? By Michael Brandow

Everything You Always Wanted to Say

But Were Afraid to Speak Up

We hear it every day in the news - they want reparations, America is systematically racist - you name it. Here's the answer to all those characterizations that plague America. What's the Problem Now? Black Grievances and White Guilt is a new satirical book by social commentator, Michael Brandow, a modern day combination of Joan Rivers and Lenny Bruce. It is an 'old white guy's' witty and insightful account of his struggle to survive in New York City without becoming an actual racist. He says right out loud what the rest of us are thinking.

Unlike so many others in these uptight times of stifling seriousness when we're all starting to doubt our own common sense, Brandow hasn't forgotten how to laugh at his race, or at the race of his fellow citizens. Anecdotes from a lifetime of "culture clashes" with black people are set against playful, non-dogmatic reflections on hot-button issues like black identity, white self-loathing, and racial conflict. He finds humor in our differences at a time when some are using the word "racist" to define the character of anyone with whom we disagree.

Reading What's the Problem Now? you might be offended... or you may find yourself illuminated and tickled by Michael's provocative wisecracks. For instance:

·    What it's like to experience "culture clashes" when certain black people wander into his white neighborhood.

·    The new obsession with something called "identity" and changing ideas on what it means to be "black."

·    The fact that you can't have "black identity" these days without white self-loathing.

·    Woke-ism's real agenda is actually racial conflict.

·    As if COVID wasn't enough to deal with in 2020: What George Floyd fever did to NYC and how Black Lives Matter fervor created an ideal setting for COVID transmission.

Brandow, 'this old white guy,' is anything but a racist, but he admits our current infatuation with blackness has made him numb with "racial boredom." And with the end of Affirmative Action, maybe he's got a point. Brandow's honesty is refreshing and he reminds us to not take ourselves too seriously - laugh out loud, be you Black or White! It's a tragicomedy for people of all shades.

"Michael Brandow gives us a personal survey of Jim Snow America, where all social ills are blamed on whiteness and black citizens are showered with preferences and excuses. This is the 'lived experience' of an older middle-class white American negotiating the racial battlefield, told with unsparing frankness and considerable wit."

—John Derbyshire, author of We Are Doomed

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael Brandow writes on society, the arts, and canine culture. The author of several books and a sought-after commentator, he has contributed to many publications including the New York Times, Village Voice, Town & Country, Gizmodo, Salon, The Bark, and Dogs Today. His works have been listed in Best American Essays and he has been profiled in The New Yorker’s "Talk of the Town."