'Not Quite Not White': Sharmila Sen Reclaims Racial Identity In New Memoir

"What happens when race is not inherited at birth, but acquired, even chosen later in life? What happens when you get race after you arrive as an immigrant to the United States?"

These are the questions that author Sharmila Sen wrestles with in her new, critical memoir, "Not Quite Not White: Losing and Finding Race in America."

The book chronicles Sen's childhood in India, her move in 1982 to Cambridge, and how she went from trying to "pass as white" to embracing her identity as a person who is proudly, specifically "not white."

Sharmila Sen, author of "Not Quite Not White: Losing and Finding Race in America." She is the executive editor-at-large at Harvard University Press. Sharmila tweets @_sen_sharmila.