Opinion | You can’t be diverse if you exclude white men

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It’s that time of year again when everyone from columnists to friends on Facebook proudly post the books they’ve read in the last year, and the ones they hope to tackle in the next.

As an avid reader, I’m always intrigued by said lists. But in recent years I’ve noticed a recurring theme, namely, many of them claim to be ultra-focused on diversity. In fact, the more books or authors one has read that have some relation to LGBTQIA people, minorities or the oppression of the underprivileged, the more public applause the list seems to receive.

The funny thing is that while these lists profess to be diverse, they consistently fail to include a major demographic: white male authors and stories.

This isn’t just in my imagination. Earlier this year, a story in Compact magazine noted that, at least on the author side of things, there have been only two white male millennials on the New York Times “notable fiction” list since 2021, while a novelist interviewed on a Vox podcast declared that when it comes to literary fiction, “Men are losing.”

Anecdotal evidence also suggests that men are being pushed out of the literary world. A few weeks ago, I heard of a man who attended a writer’s convention, hoping to break into the field of fantasy fiction. To his surprise, his fellow attendees wanted to know what was unique about him. Was he gay? Black? Queer? Uh, no. He was just a straight, white male and therefore essentially a nobody in the book world.

Yet if we’re so eager to be diverse and accept others, then shouldn’t we widen the circle and allow these old, dead, white males to re-enter our reading lists? And in doing so, might we not further diversify our minds and expand our knowledge by pondering the wisdom they offer?

With that in mind, I offer some of these taboo authors to add to your lists and truly diversify your reading, along with a few thoughts as to how their works are still relevant to our time.

"Witness," by Whittaker Chambers

The autobiography of a 20^th-century Communist spy turned Time magazine editor, "Witness" paints a vivid picture of how broken homes, a father’s absence and the instability of poverty lead young people toward subversive ideologies. Yet Chambers’ raw story also shows that it’s completely possible to avoid the victim mentality and overcome a shattered past, enjoying a life of peace, beauty and simple joy.

"Little Britches," by Ralph Moody

"The Four Loves," by C.S. Lewis

Those who loved the "Chronicles of Narnia" as children should tackle at least one of Lewis’ nonfiction works as an adult. I recommend “The Four Loves,” a work especially relevant in our current culture as marriage rates decline and many struggle to date or even form friendships. Fortunately, Lewis goes far beyond uttering the contemporary platitude, “love is love,” actually explaining what love looks like in its various forms.

Speaking of Lewis, it’s helpful to note that the good fellow himself encouraged readers “never to allow yourself another new [book] till you have read an old one in between.” His reasoning? A reader cannot fully understand the references and nuances in a contemporary book if he is not familiar with the literary groundwork laid in the older books. As Lewis writes in "God in the Dock“:

“If you join at eleven o’clock a conversation which began at eight you will often not see the real bearing of what is said. Remarks which seem to you very ordinary will produce laughter or irritation and you will not see why — the reason, of course, being that the earlier stages of the conversation have given them a special point.”

Thus, if you want the diversity badge applied to your reading habits around this time next year, then add some books written by old, white, male authors into the mix … for it’s the diversity of the past that lends understanding to the present.