On whiteness, a couple of books I have found useful are:
David Roediger, *Towards the Abolition of Whiteness: Essays on Race,
Class and Working Class History* and *The Wages of Whiteness: Race
and the Making of the American Working Class*.
Ruth Ann Frankenberg, *White Women, Race Matters: The Social
Construction of Whitenes*.
Micaela di Leonardo's forthcoming book *Exotics at Home* should also
provide some powerful commentary on this subject.