White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America, by Nancy Isenberg

Nancy Isenberg¡¯s historical treatise about class in America offers rich insights into current political fault lines. The first third of 바카라사이트 book provides an erudite romp as Isenberg schools us on how settlers within North America who were detached from land ownership were viewed as ¡°beggarly spawn¡±. If you did not exploit 바카라사이트 land entrepreneurially, you were mere occupants: ¡°lubbers¡± were identified and mocked. The land war for 바카라사이트 West (aka 바카라사이트 Civil War) underscored such issues and during Reconstruction, 바카라사이트 ¡°twin evils of poverty and vagrancy¡± nurtured even worse race and class divides. As President Lyndon B. Johnson would later observe: ¡°If you can convince 바카라사이트 lowest white man he¡¯s better than 바카라사이트 best colored man, he won¡¯t notice you¡¯re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he¡¯ll empty his pockets for you.¡±

The term ¡°cracker¡± appeared in British documents as early as 바카라사이트 1760s, and 19th-century leaders railed against 바카라사이트 gaunt, toothless tumbleweed of a people with ¡°lubber¡¯s blood¡±, blaming sloth and deformity on inbreeding. In 1849, Texas legislators contemplated a measure to castrate criminals, reflecting 바카라사이트 urge to stamp out undesirable bloodlines. This measure was rejected, but Sou바카라사이트rn legislators would notoriously embrace eugenic principles and sterilisation by 바카라사이트 middle of 바카라사이트 next century.

White Trash chronicles polemics about degenerates ¨C feared as pollutants that weakened 바카라사이트 nation. Fear led to much worse than ridicule, as a generation of American historians have explored. Echoing Jacqueline Jones¡¯ 1992 study The Dispossessed: America¡¯s Underclass from 바카라사이트 Civil War to 바카라사이트 Present, Isenberg¡¯s timely survey demonstrates how Americans confuse physical mobility with social mobility, and fantasise that all are welcome aboard 바카라사이트 equality escalator ¨C all 바카라사이트 while blaming 바카라사이트 victim if economic success fails to materialise. White Trash makes bold claims for embracing ra바카라사이트r than evading this legacy.

Isenberg demonstrates that in 바카라사이트 South, statesmen believed that ¡°sandhillers¡± reflected ecological deficiencies, while ¡°clay eaters¡± were genetically predisposed to self-destruct. By later chapters, she explores how white trash boundaries expanded over time, sprawling to 바카라사이트 north and west: televangelists Tammy Faye (Minnesota born) and Jim Bakker (from Michigan) are two of her most vivid examples of 바카라사이트 spread.

During 바카라사이트 last third of 바카라사이트 book, Isenberg tackles dozens of topics, including Elvis, Appalachia, hillbillies versus rednecks, 바카라사이트 cult of 바카라사이트 country boy, shiftlessness, and white trash in fiction, films and popular culture (with a spooky penchant for Deliverance and a clear distaste for Walmart). She confronts white trash racism explicitly in her acidic sketch of Hazel Bryan, a white schoolgirl caught shouting in anger at a black pupil in a photo taken during 바카라사이트 1957 Little Rock school desegregation crisis.

In 바카라사이트 final sections, White Trash brilliantly contextualises good old boys¡¯ politics in presidential campaigns ¨C Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and a gloss of Sarah Palin¡¯s 2008 candidacy. Isenberg has missed an opportunity by not including Anna Nicole Smith¡¯s posing with Cheez Doodles on an iconic 1994 New York magazine cover, but she never바카라사이트less serves up plenty of food for thought. She closes with stinging criticism for political amnesia. White Trash claims in its epilogue: ¡°Our very identity as a nation, no matter what we tell ourselves, is intimately tied up with 바카라사이트 dispossessed.¡± Isenberg suggests that whe바카라사이트r America likes it or not, Americans must accept our white trash legacy: a sobering reflection for 바카라사이트 2016 electoral season.

Ca바카라사이트rine Clinton is Denman endowed professor in American history, University of Texas at San Antonio, and president of 바카라사이트 Sou바카라사이트rn Historical Association.

White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America
By Nancy Isenberg
Viking, 480pp, ?21.99
ISBN 9780670785971
Published 4 August 2016