Dead White Guys is one white guy's letter to his daughter in which he summarises much of the Western canon, linking each figure/writer's (Plato, Jesus, Locke, Smith etc) ideas to life lessons his daughter may need in the future. The premise of the book is interesting - while the ideas of many canonical writers are now not taught or discussed, their thinking continues to impact much of Western society. Burriesci does acknowledge that the shift away from their ideas is partly because modern thinking recognises the socio-cultural bias inherent in their privileged position, however he quickly brushes over this. I would have enjoyed the book more if the ideas of these 'dead white guys' were set alongside the ideas of more diverse thinkers and leaders.

Having said that, I did find it a very interesting read, and while I had a basic understanding of many of the figures, I learned a lot, and found his observations about how the ideas connect with our modern society very thought provoking. I will recommend this book to any of my older students with an interest in history, philosophy or political thought.