The Tears of the White Man

The Tears of the White Man: Compassion as Contempt (French: Le Sanglot de l'homme blanc. Tiers-Monde, culpabilité, haine de soi) is a 1983 book by the French philosopher Pascal Bruckner. It describes how the political left of the Western world has a sentimental view of the Third World. Bruckner criticises this and how it is used to revel in self-hatred and perceived guilt. The title alludes to Rudyard Kipling's poem "The White Man's Burden". The book was published in English in 1986, translated by William R. Beer.

Kirkus Reviews wrote: "Throughout Bruckner's debate, the tone of vehement insensitivity to possible ether points of view is reminiscent of the most egoistic American political writers. But Bruckner, as a novelist, has much greater verbal resources than most political hacks. Unfortunately, most of this is lost in an inept translation: in most political books, a humdrum translation may suffice, but Bruckner is so dependent on a musketeer-like verbal flourish that only the best French translators should bare attempted this job."