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White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America
White Trash The 400Year Untold History of Class in America Author:Nancy Isenberg The wretched and landless poor have existed from the time of the earliest British colonial settlement. They were alternately known as "waste people," "offals," "rubbish," "lazy lubbers," and "crackers." By the 1850s, the downtrodden included so-called "clay eaters" and "sandhillers," known for prematurely aged children distinguished by their yel... more »lowish skin, ragged clothing, and listless minds. In White Trash, Nancy Isenberg upends assumptions about America's supposedly class-free society. 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 eugenics. These poor were at the heart of New Deal reforms and LBJ's Great Society; they haunt us in reality TV shows like Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and Duck Dynasty. We acknowledge racial injustice as an ugly stain on our nation's history. With Isenberg's landmark book, we will have to face the truth about the enduring, malevolent nature of class as well.« less
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ISBN-13: 9781515905448 ISBN-10: 1515905446 Publication Date: 6/21/2016 Edition:Unabridged CD Rating:
Mandatory reading of American history. Explains why we are where we are today. Reveals the falsehood we live under in our democracy. Gives hope that someday a true democracy can be obtained.