White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America

White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America

The New York Times bestseller
A New York Times Notable and Criticsâ‚¬ Top Book of 2016
Longlisted for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction
One of NPR's 10 Best Books Of 2016 Faced Tough Topics Head On
NPR's Book Concierge Guide To 2016â‚¬s Great Reads
San Francisco Chronicle's Best of 2016: 100 recommended books
A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2016
Globe & Mail 100 Best of 2016

â‚¬Å“Formidable and truth-dealing . . . necessary.â‚¬ÂÂ â‚¬"The New York Times

â‚¬Å“This eye-opening investigation into our countryâ‚¬s entrenched social hierarchy is acutely relevant.â‚¬Â â‚¬"O Magazine

In her groundbreakingÂ bestselling history of the class system in America,Â Nancy IsenbergÂ upends history as we know it by taking on our comforting myths about equality and uncovering the crucial legacy of the ever-present, always embarrassingâ‚¬"if occasionally entertainingâ‚¬"poor white trash.
Â
â‚¬Å“When you turn an election into a three-ring circus, thereâ‚¬s always a chance that the dancing bear will win,â‚¬Â says Isenberg of the political climate surrounding Sarah Palin. And we recognize how right she is today. Yet the voters who boosted Trump all the way to the White House have been a permanent part of our American fabric, argues Isenberg.

The wretched and landless poor have existed from the time of the earliest British colonial settlement to today's hillbillies. They were alternately known as â‚¬Å“waste people,â‚¬Â â‚¬Å“offals,â‚¬Â â‚¬Å“rubbish,â‚¬Â â‚¬Å“lazy lubbers,â‚¬Â and â‚¬Å“crackers.â‚¬Â By the 1850s, the downtrodden included so-called â‚¬Å“clay eatersâ‚¬Â and â‚¬Å“sandhillers,â‚¬Â known for prematurely aged children distinguished by their yellowish skin, ragged clothing, and listless minds.
Â
Surveying political rhetoric and policy, popular literature and scientific theories over four hundred years, Isenberg upends assumptions about Americaâ‚¬s supposedly class-free societyâ‚¬â€œâ‚¬â€œwhere liberty and hard work were meant to ensure real social mobility. Poor whites were central to the rise of the Republican Party in the early nineteenth century, and the Civil War itself was fought over class issues nearly as much as it was fought over slavery. Reconstruction pitted poor white trash against newly freed slaves, which factored in the rise of eugenicsâ‚¬â€œ-a widely popular movement embraced by Theodore Roosevelt that targeted poor whites for sterilization. These poor were at the heart of New Deal reforms and LBJâ‚¬s Great Society; they haunt us in reality TV shows like Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and Duck Dynasty. Marginalized as a class, white trash have always been at or near the center of major political debates over the character of the American identity.
Â
We acknowledge racial injustice as an ugly stain on our nationâ‚¬s history. With Isenbergâ‚¬s landmark book, we will have to face the truth about the enduring, malevolent nature of class as well.
Country USA
Brand Viking Drill & Tool
Manufacturer Viking Pr
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber 44027011
UnitCount 1
UPCs 642688057633
EANs 9780670785971
ReleaseDate 2016-06-21

Country	USA
Brand	Viking Drill & Tool
Manufacturer	Viking Pr
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	44027011
UnitCount	1
UPCs	642688057633
EANs	9780670785971
ReleaseDate	2016-06-21

White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America

You might also like...