{"product_id":"history-of-white-people-9780393049343","title":"History of White People","description":"\u003cbr\u003eOur story begins in Greek and Roman antiquity, where the concept of race did not exist, only geography and the opportunity to conquer and enslave others. Not until the eighteenth century did an obsession with whiteness flourish, with the German invention of the notion of Caucasian beauty. This theory made northern Europeans into \"Saxons,\" \"Anglo-Saxons,\" and \"Teutons,\" envisioned as uniquely handsome natural rulers.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHere was a worldview congenial to northern Europeans bent on empire. There followed an explosion of theories of race, now focusing on racial temperament as well as skin color. Spread by such intellectuals as Madame de Stael and Thomas Carlyle, white race theory soon reached North America with a vengeance. Its chief spokesman, Ralph Waldo Emerson, did the most to label Anglo-Saxons--icons of beauty and virtue--as the only true Americans. It was an ideal that excluded not only blacks but also all ethnic groups not of Protestant, northern European background. The Irish and Native Americans were out and, later, so were the Chinese, Jews, Italians, Slavs, and Greeks--all deemed racially alien. Did immigrations threaten the very existence of America? Americans were assumed to be white, but who among poor immigrants could become truly American? A tortured and convoluted series of scientific explorations developed--theories intended to keep Anglo-Saxons at the top: the ever-popular measurement of skulls, the powerful eugenics movement, and highly biased intelligence tests--all designed to keep working people out and down.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs Painter reveals, power--supported by economics, science, and politics--continued to drive exclusionary notions of whiteness until, deep into the twentieth century, political realities enlarged the category of truly American.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA story filled with towering historical figures, \u003ci\u003eThe History of White People\u003c\/i\u003e forcefully reminds us that the concept of one white race is a recent invention. The meaning, importance, and realty of this all-too-human thesis of race have buckled under the weight of a long and rich unfolding of events.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e W. W. Norton \u0026amp; Company\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/01\/2010\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780393049343\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 496\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.87lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.50h x 6.47w x 1.36d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal Prepub Alert\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/01\/2009 pg. 44\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/14\/2009 pg. 47\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/15\/2010 pg. 121\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 01\/15\/2010 pg. 74\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/15\/2010 pg. 12\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/08\/2010 pg. 70\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/28\/2010 pg. 1\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/04\/2010 pg. 22\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew Yorker (The)\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/12\/2010 pg. 70\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/01\/2010\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChristian Century\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/28\/2010 pg. 36\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eReference and Research Bk News\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/01\/2010 pg. 64\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Nell Irvin Painter","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":36636850618524,"sku":"9780393049343","price":49.29,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_72df815f-22a5-4db8-b7d1-5e681ef6b06b.jpg?v=1603843148","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/history-of-white-people-9780393049343","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}