A Dead White: An Argument Against White Paint (Pre-order)

Please note: This item is currently available for pre-order. Orders containing this product will not ship until after its release date on October 15, 2026.

An impassioned, boundary-pushing work of criticism traversing an array of subjects, from fine arts to design to architecture, taking aim at the ubiquity of white paint in our society and what its prevalence reveals about our values.

In this expansive, impassioned examination, cultural critic Wendy S. Walters interrogates all that we have taken for granted about the substance that colors, or fails to color, the structures and objects that surround us—and what the collective impulse toward white paint can tell us about culture, politics, and individual desire. Exploring the role of white paint in art history, architecture, and consumer culture, it follows its influence into the home, the halls of the workplace, the galleries and studios of the contemporary art world, and larger forums of mass culture and national identity, never losing sight of how this cultural inclination manifests in our choices and habits as individuals.

Longlisted for the National Book Award in Nonfiction.

• Published by Simon & Schuster
• 352 pages
• 8.5 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Hardback