Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama is a non-fiction book by the anti-racist writer and educator Tim Wise, published by City Lights in 2009.

[1][2] In the book Wise argues that the election of Barack Obama did not signal the end of racism in America,[3] writing that his political success could instead "deepen the denial in which so much of the white public has been embedded for generations.

"[4] Adam Bradley from The Washington Post stated that "the punning title of [Wise's] book, Between Barack and a Hard Place, belies the sobering material within.

Wise paints a stark picture of racial inequality in the United States today.

.Wise's short book reads like an old-school polemic: Thomas Paine's 'Common Sense' for the 21st century.