The New York Times Bestseller A ground-breaking history of the class system in America, which challenges popular myths about equality in the land of opportunity. In this landmark book, Nancy Isenberg argues that the voters who boosted Trump all the way to the White House have been a permanent part of the American fabric, and reveals how the wretched and landless poor have existed from the time of the earliest British colonial settlements to today's hillbillies. Poor whites were central to the rise of the Republican Party in ...
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The New York Times Bestseller A ground-breaking history of the class system in America, which challenges popular myths about equality in the land of opportunity. In this landmark book, Nancy Isenberg argues that the voters who boosted Trump all the way to the White House have been a permanent part of the American fabric, and reveals how the wretched and landless poor have existed from the time of the earliest British colonial settlements to today's hillbillies. 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 white trash against newly freed slaves, which factored in the rise of eugenics - 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 Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society; they are now offered up as entertainment in reality TV shows, and the label is applied to celebrities ranging from Dolly Parton to Bill Clinton. Marginalized as a class, white trash have always been at or near the centre of major political debates over the character of the American identity. Surveying political rhetoric and policy, popular literature and scientific theories over four hundred years, Isenberg upends assumptions about America's supposedly class-free society - where liberty and hard work were meant to ensure real social mobility - and forces a nation to face the truth about the enduring, malevolent nature of class.
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Add this copy of White Trash: the 400-Year Untold History of Class in to cart. $2.34, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Viking.
Add this copy of White Trash: the 400-Year Untold History of Class in to cart. $2.34, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Viking.
Add this copy of White Trash: the 400-Year Untold History of Class in to cart. $2.34, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Viking.
Add this copy of White Trash: the 400-Year Untold History of Class in to cart. $2.44, fair condition, Sold by OnlineGoodwill rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Nashville, TN, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Viking.
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Fair. A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are solid. the cover is intact, but may show scuffs or light creases, as well as a possible rolled corner. The spine may show signs of wear. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting, The former owner may have written their name inside the front or back cover. COVER WILL VARY.
Add this copy of White Trash: the 400-Year Untold History of Class in to cart. $2.46, good condition, Sold by Seattle Goodwill rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Seattle, WA, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Viking.
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May have some shelf-wear due to normal use. Your purchase funds free job training and education in the greater Seattle area. Thank you for supporting Goodwill's nonprofit mission!
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Fair. Used book in acceptable condition. Cover may include stickers/heavy wear. Heavy wear on pages, heavy highlighting/writing on pages, staining, and moisture damage (rippling/warping). All orders ship via UPS Mail Innovations-MAY TAKE UP TO 10 BUSINESS DAYS from first scan to be delivered. There may be writing, stickers, or sticker residue on the cover. Creasing, curling, or bending of the covers. Frayed or tears in cover.
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Good. The book is nice and 100% readable, but the book has visible wear which may include stains, scuffs, scratches, folded edges, sticker glue, highlighting, notes, and worn corners.
Add this copy of White Trash: the 400-Year Untold History of Class in to cart. $3.45, good condition, Sold by Goodwill Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hillsboro, OR, UNITED STATES, published 2017 by Penguin Books.
Add this copy of White Trash: the 400-Year Untold History of Class in to cart. $3.45, fair condition, Sold by Goodwill Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hillsboro, OR, UNITED STATES, published 2017 by Penguin Books.
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Book is considered to be in good or better condition. The actual cover image may not match the stock photo. Hard cover books may show signs of wear on the spine cover or dust jacket. Paperback book may show signs of wear on spine or cover as well as having a slight bend or curve to it. Book should have no writing inside or highlighting. Pages should be free of tears or creasing. Stickers should not be present on cover or elsewhere and any CD or DVD expected with the book is included. Book is not a former library copy.
I'm not really sure what the prior reviewer is talking about. Isenberg is a historian of the early United States, and reviews of her book say that it's overall good, but she's trying to send A Message. If that's not your thing, that's fine!
I found the book interesting because Isenberg's frame of reference tends to be how the generations around the Revolutionary War have been viewed, and especially how the modern US is living up to that example (or failing to live up to it). As the title/introduction/etc. say, she's writing about the most under-privileged white people in the United States--people who were looked down upon, poorer, and less educated than, well, just about everyone else. That means they didn't get a chance to write much for themselves and they don't get to push back on the characterizations until pretty recently. Isenberg's sections on the South and particularly North Carolina are quite good (and some college there should definitely consider renaming their mascot the "Renegadoes"), but she spends plenty of time on northern states too. Just don't go in looking for a rose-tinted view of the "Southern lower middle class"--that's another book entirely!
Yogini29
Mar 22, 2017
Very disappointed
I thought this book would be a sympathetic study of underprivileged people who have always existed in all parts of the USA. It isn't.
Some Southern man must have broken Nancy Isenberg's heart; that is the only reason I can think of that could have generated such a vitriolic book.
It is also historically inaccurate; she cherry picks the facts to support the thesis that poor whites ( who apparently only exist in the South ) are genetically predisposed to laziness, poor health, and extreme bigotry. She ignores the historical position of the Southern lower middle class and also the poor whites who live outside of the South. This author is not a historian, despite her credentials, and professional critical reviews of her book have been unfavorable.
