Walter F. White led two lives: one as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance and the NAACP in the early twentieth century; the other as a white newspaperman who covered lynching crimes in the Deep South at the blazing height of racial violence. Born mixed race and with veryfairskin and straight hair, White was able to pass for white. He leveraged this ambiguity as a reporter, bringing to light the darkest crimes in America and helping to plant the seeds of the civil rights movement.

Whites risky career led him to lead a double life. He was simultaneously a second-class citizen subject to Jim Crow laws at home and a widely respected professional with full access to the white world at work. His life was fraught with internal and external conflictmuch like the story of race in America. Starting out as an obscure activist, White ultimately became Black Americas most prominent leader, during his time.A character study of Whites life and career with all these complexities has never been rendered, until now.

By the award-winning,New York Timesbestselling author ofThe Accidental President, Dewey Defeats Truman,andThe Arsenal of Democracy, White Liesuncovers the life of a civil rights leader unlike any other.