Chien blanc

"Chien Blanc" (White Dog) is a memoir by the French author Romain Gary. Published in 1970 by Éditions Gallimard, it deals with the subject of racism in late 1960s Los Angeles.

The book, which grew from an article published in "Life Magazine", tells of a seemingly lovable stray dog, Batka, taken in by Gary and his wife, the actress and civil rights activist Jean Seberg. To their dismay, Gary and Seberg discover that the German Shepherd is friendly with whites but has been carefully trained to attack African Americans on sight. Gary and Seberg's efforts to reeducate their racist pet are described in the context of the social unrest of the late 1960s, specifically the assassination of Martin Luther King, the rise and fall of the Black Power movement, and the May 1968 student demonstrations in Paris.

Samuel Fuller's 1982 film "White Dog" starring Paul Winfield and Kristy McNichol is loosely based on "Chien Blanc".