Sacha Jenkins, Elliott Wilson, Chairman Jefferson Mao, Gabriel Alvarez & Brent Rollins: Ego Trip's Big Book Of Racism!

Ego Trip's Big Book Of Racism! could just as easily and accurately be titled Ego Trip's Big Book Of Race, since its fascination with ethnicity goes well beyond simply documenting racial discrimination. Then again, the proudly irreverent minds behind Ego Trip have never shied away from ballsy provocation, particularly when it creates sales-friendly controversy. A sequel and companion piece to Ego Trip's Book Of Rap Lists, the defunct hip-hop magazine's first book-length collection of numerically ordered pop-culture trivia, Racism's provocation doesn't end with its title. Raising a defiant middle finger to identity politics, racism, and cultural sensitivity alike, the book dares to find the humor in popular culture's long and sometimes sordid history of race consciousness, racism, reverse racism, and plain old intolerance. Like its predecessor, Racism leans heavily on lists and is packed with trivia, gossip, slander, and attitude. But where Rap Lists' title spelled out its homogeneous format and inherent limitations, Racism benefits from eclectic, anything-goes brazenness. Anyone who's played guess-the-ethnicity will have a field day with the book, which answers such pressing questions as the ethnic makeup of The Wonder Years' Danica McKellar (half Korean and half white) and Ben Kingsley (half Syrian). Racism contains its share of filler, but at its best, it provokes thought as well as laughter. The book flaunts its taboo-shattering naughtiness, but behind its sometimes painfully hip sneer lies a sincere desire to open a frank discussion free from the tired dogma of both the left and right. Racism is an equal-opportunity offender, but it's far from color-blind: It candidly explores the huge but often unexplored role race plays in everyday American life and popular culture, and it makes bathroom reading a lot more provocative in the process.