The history of White people
(Book)

Book Cover
Average Rating
Published
New York : W.W. Norton, [2010].
ISBN
9780393049343, 0393049345, 9780393339741, 0393339742
Status
Indian Prairie Public Library District - 1st Floor
305.8 PAINTER
1 available

Description

Loading Description...

Also in this Series

Checking series information...

Copies

LocationCall NumberStatus
Indian Prairie Public Library District - 1st Floor305.8 PAINTEROn Shelf
LocationCall NumberStatus
Berwyn Public Library - Stacks305.800973 PAIOn Shelf
Blue Island Public Library - Stacks305.8 PAIOn Shelf
Calumet City Public Library - Nonfiction305.8 PAIOn Shelf
Carol Stream Public Library - Adult Nonfiction305.800973/PAIOn Shelf
Downers Grove Public Library - 2nd Floor - Adult305.8 PAIOn Shelf
Show All Copies

More Like This

Loading more titles like this title...

More Details

Published
New York : W.W. Norton, [2010].
Format
Book
Physical Desc
496 pages : illustrations, map ; 25 cm
Language
English
ISBN
9780393049343, 0393049345, 9780393339741, 0393339742

Notes

Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 401-456) and index.
Description
Historian Painter centers her momentous study of racial classification on the slave trade and the nation-building efforts which dominated the United States in the 18th century, when thinkers led by Ralph Waldo Emerson strove to explain the rapid progress of America within the context of white superiority. Her research is filled with frequent, startling realizations about how tenuous and temporary our racial classifications really are.
Description
"Ever since the Enlightenment, race theory and its inevitable partner, racism, have followed a crooked road, constructed by dominant peoples to justify their domination of others. Filling a huge gap in historical literature that long focused on the non-white, eminent historian Nell Irvin Painter guides us through more than two thousand years of Western civilization, tracing not only the invention of the idea of race but also the frequent worship of 'whiteness' for economic, social, scientific, and political ends. Our 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. Here 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."--Publisher description.

Reviews from GoodReads

Loading GoodReads Reviews.

Citations

APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)

Painter, N. I. (2010). The history of White people . W.W. Norton.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Painter, Nell Irvin. 2010. The History of White People. W.W. Norton.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Painter, Nell Irvin. The History of White People W.W. Norton, 2010.

MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)

Painter, Nell Irvin. The History of White People W.W. Norton, 2010.

Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.

Staff View

Loading Staff View.