The History of White People

by Nell Irvin Painter

Hardcover, 2010

Call number

305.8 PAI

Collection

Nonfiction

Genres

History

General Nonfiction

Publication

W. W. Norton & Company (2010), Edition: First Edition first Printing, 512 pages

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.

Media reviews

New York Times

User reviews

LibraryThing member Fledgist

White people in the English-speaking world have operated under the assumption that they are raceless and/or that "whiteness" is a universal, ahistorical characteristic. Painter strips these assumptions bare and shows how "whiteness" developed as a category. A useful, fascinating study.

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LibraryThing member rivkat

“Whiteness” has been a European obsession for centuries, including claims about how ancient Egyptians—at least the ruling castes—were white and fair-haired (they just wore wigs in pictures, the story went) and how modern Greeks weren’t really the Greeks of ancient times, whose proper

descendants were some version of French, German, or English depending on the commitments of the proponent. In the US, this turns into a persistent contrast with blackness, though Painter also recounts the arguments for why the Irish, the Italians, and the Jews who immigrated weren’t really white, until they became so (most often in response to a new wave of immigrants who seemed even more different).

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LibraryThing member Sullywriter

A brilliant work of scholarship! Accessible, insightful, provocative.

LibraryThing member KikiUnhinged

One of the most fascinating historical references I've read covering civilizations over 2000 years. Important education about the origination of the "white ideal" and the invention of race.

LibraryThing member ohernaes

Interesting parts, like about how there used to be hard within-European white fronts that are now much less pronounced, and president Theodore Roosevelt's worries about racial decay and writings about positive eugenics (boosting fertility), but overall I found the book too long and slow.

LibraryThing member DinadansFriend

The history of the concept of “white People” is traced from Classical Times, when the “Top People” weren’t, strictly speaking, “White” down to relatively recent times. It is the story of the exponents of various racial theorists’ thoughts at least through their published works,

though filmed and other media are also explored. Some of these theorists are shown to be deliberately pursuing political or economic programs, while others are drawn into the discussion of “Race” from other fields and interests. There is also a discussion of the extent to which the social concept of “Race” can be verified by any form of physical evidence save personal appearance.

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LibraryThing member Bodagirl

Interesting but incredibly dense.

LibraryThing member phyllis01

Excellent book. Gives the historical perspective for current 'race beliefs' in society.

LibraryThing member xiaomarlo

It isn't what I expected (I thought it would be a deeper deconstruction of what we perceive to be white, but it's more of an academic historical survey), but I certainly did learn a lot. My favourite parts were reading about courageous progressives, telling the truth about racial oppression in much

more racist and backward-thinking times. Also, I didn't know the racist history of the GI bill, and it makes so much sense (so much racial oppression is omitted from the history we learn growing up), and gave me a different perspective on the incessant self-congratulation of my parents' generation, the baby boomers, who act like they weren't born into the most privileged generation in history.

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LibraryThing member laze

Impeccably researched and complied. Definitely a bit academic and dry (especially the first half), but worth pushing through.

(Wish I had something more substantial to say at the moment. Read other, better reviews instead.)

LibraryThing member DrFuriosa

My abandonment is not a commentary on the book's quality at all. I think it will make a really interesting read. Right now, I'm trying to get through a library stack AND preview books for research, and this just does not happen to dovetail with my specific area of research at the moment. The few

chapters I did read were interesting, and I look forward to returning to it.

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LibraryThing member thereserose5

This book is very dense, but if you're willing to put in the time and brainpower, it's worth the read.

LibraryThing member bookwyrmm

A very interesting and educational look at how whites became a race.

LibraryThing member Kavinay

What a read. Painter's work about the concept of whiteness as both historical canard and force is just fascinating. It's also hard to read in the sense that it's constantly hitting you with anachronistic arguements for "race science"--it takes a toll. It's just so tiring to experience the same

story of contemporary racism play out over and over again. It took me over a year to finish but it's worth it. The origins of even contemporary attitudes towards whiteness are appallingly arbitrary and owe a large burden to the previous "successes" of craniometry.

Painter's patient prose depicts a history of controlling and expanding "whiteness" that's appalling and yet understandable for how effective it was even among the elites. In fact, it's the scientists and men of power that frequently star in the Yakety Sax pursuit of weaponized whiteness.

My only suggestion is that the title of this book could more appropriately termed "The Invention of Whiteness."

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LibraryThing member JRobinW

This is an important book for all of us. I think a better title would have been the history of racism. Perhaps more people would buy it?

LibraryThing member stillatim

My reading experience was DESTROYED by the publicity for this book: from the title, which must have been imposed by an agent or editor, to the silly levels of praise ("mind-expanding and myth-destroying"). That's a shame, because the book is okay for what it is: a recounting of the various ways

people have defined 'white people,' in America. Any time the book leaves America, it becomes tedious at best; the opening chapters on the ancients are unnecessary; the enormous chapter on de Stael is entirely unnecessary and more than a little irritating. But it will be well worth your time to start at chapter 9, and then, if you care to, go back to read about the ties between beauty and whiteness in the 18th century.

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LibraryThing member R3dH00d

Extensive and detailed historical analysis of how whiteness has been privileged and promoted over the course of of the past two millenia.

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