I honestly don’t know what the hell this is. It’s a piece of satire so thoroughly disguised as a mid-century handbook that it’s a little like Sasha Baron Cohen doing interviews in full Borat mode. And in fact, Borat’s not a bad comparison, as far as I can tell. The book is A Practical Guide to Racism — “for both racists and non-racists alike” — by “C.H. Dalton.” ("This book collects the 2005 Lothrop Stoddard lectures, delivered by C.H. Dalton near Harvard University.") It’s not at all rare to see a new book designed to look like an old one. It is, however, rarely so well done. This one contains back-of-the-book ads for such books as “Hill on Pain” and “Gottheil on Syphilis,” a list of other handbooks by the author, an extensive index, seven appendices — including a 64-page Glossary of Racial Epithets ("with suggestions for additional slurs") and copious illustrations by named illustrators (Andy Friedman, Nicholas Gurewitch et al.) ... but no cover design credit. Whether they actually had the bookbinder set the type for the foil stamp — which would be a stroke of true genius — or whether the designer chose not to be named, I cannot know. But in case any of this has made you nervous, let me note that the book ends with this quote from Kurt Vonnegut: “There are plenty of good reasons for fighting, but no good reason ever to hate without reservation, to imagine that God Almighty Himself hates with you, too.”