I'm Not Racist, I Want My Country Back!
How Race, Power, and Nostalgia Shape the World We Live In
2025 Print edition: A clear, unsentimental investigation into racism and race relations, white privilege and systemic bias, nationalism and populism, colonialism/empire and apartheid, immigration and borders, identity, belonging, mixed-race experience, politics and policing. Braiding narrative with systems thinking, this book shows how language, law, media, and code work together to produce advantage and exclusion-often invisibly, always consequentially.
What this paperback covers: cultural criticism and political commentary; decolonisation and reparations; media framing, propaganda, and algorithmic bias; British imperial legacies and French Algeria; South African apartheid and US civil rights; class, colourism, and the market for "morality"; how nostalgia fuels grievance and "take our country back" politics. It's rigorous yet readable, provocative yet fair-designed for reading groups, students of sociology and cultural theory, and anyone who prefers clarity over comfort.
Inside each chapter:
- Racism 2.0 - Unpacked - historical, sociological, and policy context
- The Mirror Test - a practical reflection or provocation you can apply today
- Across the Divide - fiction meets reality via four families: the Grants (England), the Whitemans (South Africa), the Bakiris (France), the Washingtons (USA)
- Global Snapshot - Meanwhile... - concise world examples
- Podcast Teaser - Mini-Story - an audio-friendly scene to continue the conversation
Why it matters now: In a noisy era of "culture wars", the book cuts through slogans to expose incentives, defaults, and feedback loops-how institutions, platforms, and policies entrench inequality while claiming neutrality. It offers a usable vocabulary for discussing race, nationalism, immigration, allyship, media bias, and algorithmic decision-making without euphemism or moral panic.
Why you'll value this book: Its written for readers of anti-racism and social justice; students of history, political science, and sociology; journalists, educators, and policy practitioners; people navigating multicultural, mixed-race, or adopted identities; anyone curious about decolonisation, reparations, and the difference between intention and impact.
Tone & approach: thought-provoking, meticulously sourced in spirit (no jargon-dump), with dry wit and moments of satire to make difficult truths readable. It invites debate, not tribalism-tools, not talking points.
Paperback features: clean, minimalist interior; highly legible typography (Arimo family), considered headings and spacing for long-form reading; consistent chapter architecture for quick reference; print-friendly design for annotation and study.
Keywords woven naturally: racism; race relations; white privilege; systemic racism; colonialism and empire; apartheid; nationalism and populism; immigration and borders; mixed-race memoir themes; adoption stories; cultural critique; political commentary; sociology; cultural theory; media studies; propaganda; algorithmic bias; decolonisation; reparations; identity and belonging; critical thinking; uncomfortable must-read non-fiction.
If you're ready to swap comfort for clarity-to test assumptions, map mechanisms, and imagine repair-this paperback is your guide.
Read it. Debate it. Have a laugh. Pass it on.
Dean Armstrong is a writer-researcher who studies how ideas harden into institutions-and how institutions quietly shape our choices. His work sits at the intersection of policy, economics, media and technology, tracing theory to consequence. He cares less for slogans than mechanisms: incentives, defaults, algorithms, and feedback loops that run in the background of daily life. He prizes evidence over rhetoric. Often skeptical never snide.
His book, I'm Not Racist, I Want My Country Back!, braids storytelling with systems thinking to examine race relations, white privilege, nationalism, colonialism, apartheid, migration, media bias, and algorithmic power. It asks why nostalgia persuades, why hierarchies endure, and how language, law, code, and capital co-produce our social reality. The voice is clear, unsentimental, and-by design-thought-provoking and uncomfortable.
Dean has worked across technology and public communication for years, with hands-on experience in business, e-commerce, retail, and strategic communications. He has written numerous investigative pieces and long-form research for clients, and is frequently asked to edit, advise, and contribute across major media channels and podcasts. His writing has been admired by editors and authors who value his ability to convert complex systems into crisp, practical explanations.
Having lived and worked on several continents, Dean writes with a global lens without centering biography. He writes for readers who prefer clarity to comfort and want tools, not tribes. When he isn't drafting chapters, he prototypes small products that help people reason, collaborate, and govern their time and attention. He has studied and worked across music, business, and technology, a broad base that informs his cultural analysis.
Dean is now expanding his catalogue-continuing his work in cultural critique and systemic racism whilst developing his first self-help title with the same rigorous, plain-spoken approach to personal decision-making and everyday governance.
Themes readers search for: racism and anti-racism, race relations, white privilege, systemic racism, colonialism and empire, apartheid, nationalism and populism, cultural memoir and mixed-race perspectives, adoption stories, media studies and propaganda, political commentary, sociology, social psychology, identity and belonging, critical thinking, uncomfortable must-read nonfiction, podcast companion content.
