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Birth of a White Nation: The Invention of White People and Its Relevance Today
Birth of a White Nation, Second Edition examines the social construction of race through the invention of white people. Surveying colonial North American law and history, the book interrogates the origins of racial inequality and injustice in American society, and details how the invention still serves to protect the ruling elite to the present day. This second edition documents the proliferation of ideas imposed and claimed throughout history that have conspired to give content, form, and social meaning to one’s racial classification. Beginning its expanded narrative with the development of diverse Native American societies through contact with European colonizers in the Tidewater region, and progressing to the emigration of Mexicans, Irish, and other "non-whites", this new edition addresses the ongoing production and reproduction of whiteness as a distinct and dominant social category. It also looks to the future by developing a new, applied framework for countering racial inequality and promoting greater awareness of anti-racist policies and practices.Birth of a White Nation will be of great interest to students, scholars, and general readers seeking to make sense of the dramatic racial inequities of our time and to forge an antiracist path forward.
126 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 27, 2013
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847 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 10, 2018
Powerful
I think this book should be required reading for everyone in a position if leadership, whether in government, our school, our social service agencies, or our churches. Although the author’s style of writing is difficult to follow at times, the overall historical overview is clear and disturbing. If we are to understand the forces at work in our country today, we must understand the forces that shaped us.
I think this book should be required reading for everyone in a position if leadership, whether in government, our school, our social service agencies, or our churches. Although the author’s style of writing is difficult to follow at times, the overall historical overview is clear and disturbing. If we are to understand the forces at work in our country today, we must understand the forces that shaped us.
July 29, 2017
A helpful review of US laws on immigration, citizenship, voting rights, property ownership, and marriage -- laws that reserved privileges for propertied Protestant men of English descent along with men who looked like them. Early on in the legislative process, these men designated themselves "white."
It's interesting to realize that the concept of a superior "white race" was in our linguistic currency until the Civil Rights movement. After that, the terminology went underground. The concept of "race" is now used with reference to people deemed not white. In media, political rhetoric, education, etc., "white" became tacitly equated with "normal." So, some people are normal. It's everybody else who has to deal with issues of race.
It's interesting to realize that the concept of a superior "white race" was in our linguistic currency until the Civil Rights movement. After that, the terminology went underground. The concept of "race" is now used with reference to people deemed not white. In media, political rhetoric, education, etc., "white" became tacitly equated with "normal." So, some people are normal. It's everybody else who has to deal with issues of race.
January 27, 2015
Important information on the way that "whiteness" was written into law early on in the U.S., bestowing clear and enduring privilege on some, while holding others on the outside. Delineates membership history within the category of "white," showing the arbitrary and power-mongering nature of those who created and perpetuate the use of "white" as a legitimate category (more covert today than in history, obviously).
Does a good job of addressing gender/race/class intersectional issues.
Does a good job of addressing gender/race/class intersectional issues.
January 31, 2020
There are many ideas about what colonial life was like before America became a country. Dr. Barralora lays out an extensive legal history that shaped the sociological conditions of the time showing that the relationships between people of the time to be more complex than what we are told. People lived, loved, and worked together. An important event changed all of the that-Bacon's Rebellion. Because of this uprising the ruling class set out to implement a method of social control in order to keep the laboring class divided forever. The psychological method they invented after trial and error eventually created and evolved a class of people in a manner the world has never seen before. This class of people were called white, and it was an invention made by law that would forever divide peoples who otherwise had a common bond. This is the igniting spark that would run the engine of America enriching it beyond all other nations in what could be considered the greatest deal with the devil ever made.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 17, 2019
Excellent, I have been actively engaged in "We The People" for 6 years with the understanding of where it needs to go but lacking the knowledge to point it in the direction this book, with so much authority explained, for us as a people to go forward.
Excellent, I have been actively engaged in "We The People" for 6 years with the understanding of where it needs to go but lacking the knowledge to point it in the direction this book with so much authority explained for us as a people to go forward.
Excellent, I have been actively engaged in "We The People" for 6 years with the understanding of where it needs to go but lacking the knowledge to point it in the direction this book with so much authority explained for us as a people to go forward.
February 1, 2017
A critical and brief historical review of the invention of whiteness. A solid foundation for understanding the social construction of race in the United States: grounded in law, patriarchy, capitalism, nativism, and colonialism. The author's repetitiveness can be tough to take, but it also reiterated critical points in history that are so counter to what we are taught in school, it may be intentional. If you can stick with it, in spite of the repetition and some typos, your eyes will be opened.
November 13, 2019
Great book how in 17th century the laws cementing slavery were created. Turns out it took quite a while and several iterations of laws. If you think the British elites just took the existing British laws, you are wrong, there was American "innovation" involved. Also great summary of the history of how Mexicans were legally white but were not treated as white. Also how Irish imigrants became white, when at beginning they were not seen as such.
April 23, 2019
A fascinating, disturbing, thought-provoking examination into how and why races were created in the U.S. Everyone should read this book. It provides a necessary pivot away from the mythologized version of America and toward a more inclusive, honest origin story.
June 26, 2014
Heard the author at the White Privilege conference. Enjoyed her talk and loved her book. Must read!!
October 18, 2014
I can't believe how inaccurate this book is.
June 6, 2015
Same ideas as Thandeka's Learning to be White and Ignatiev's Race Traitor, but poorly argued. Redundant.
October 21, 2018
Informative and powerful. It should be incorporated into educational curriculum throughout the United States.
December 16, 2018
Pushing back on my own ignorance.
Where does "white" come from.
Where does "white" come from.
March 19, 2019
An essential read for understanding and dismantling systemic racism in the USA.
September 4, 2021
To slog through Birth of a White Nation: The Invention of White People and Its Relevance Today is to read a painfully long book report by a high school freshman, complete with errors in grammar, spelling, and above all, syntax. Author Jacqueline Battalora , the reader assumes, plans to make her argument on the supposed specific creation of Caucasian males into a 'white' race of dominant, deviant, and primitive womanizing racists !
One need look no further than the book's title to begin to appreciate the syntax nightmare of Birth of a White Nation. The title suggests the biological creation via 'Invention' of the Caucasian population, not, as was probably intended, the early seeding of racism between Caucasians and everyone else ! Battalora repeatedly states that the skin pigmentation genetically passed from one generation to another is somehow "not recognized in the natural world" and only in 17th century America did it begin to be identified as a defining difference socially. Such patently ridiculous arguments are further lost to logic by the author's incessant repeating of pertinent information to some abstract mental nonsense she is spewing being "in the next chapter" or "in future chapters', or "in the last chapter". I dare say I exercise no exaggeration when I claim that the preceding three 'chapter' references, if consolidated, would take the full space of 4-5 pages ! Battalora goes on to make a variety of claims concerning the planned creation of the 'white' race and it's perpetuation to this day without giving anymore than a single, usually vague, reference to some obscure fact.
Between the syntax oblivion of her thought process to the flagrant disregard of both common sense and scientific reality, Jacqueline Battalora would earn a 65 on this flotsam, and that gift would be in the interest of not having to read her rubbish again !
One need look no further than the book's title to begin to appreciate the syntax nightmare of Birth of a White Nation. The title suggests the biological creation via 'Invention' of the Caucasian population, not, as was probably intended, the early seeding of racism between Caucasians and everyone else ! Battalora repeatedly states that the skin pigmentation genetically passed from one generation to another is somehow "not recognized in the natural world" and only in 17th century America did it begin to be identified as a defining difference socially. Such patently ridiculous arguments are further lost to logic by the author's incessant repeating of pertinent information to some abstract mental nonsense she is spewing being "in the next chapter" or "in future chapters', or "in the last chapter". I dare say I exercise no exaggeration when I claim that the preceding three 'chapter' references, if consolidated, would take the full space of 4-5 pages ! Battalora goes on to make a variety of claims concerning the planned creation of the 'white' race and it's perpetuation to this day without giving anymore than a single, usually vague, reference to some obscure fact.
Between the syntax oblivion of her thought process to the flagrant disregard of both common sense and scientific reality, Jacqueline Battalora would earn a 65 on this flotsam, and that gift would be in the interest of not having to read her rubbish again !
February 20, 2024
If you’re a white person interested in beginning or furthering their anti-racist work, this book is crucial. Not only does it crack open the myth of race and whiteness, it also serves as a more honest account of U.S history and how this nation’s conception and creation is entirely rooted in white supremacy — not because commoners were inherently racist, but bc the wealthy elite needed to fracture the working masses. It also has a huge amount of resources for further reading about the constructs of race and their effects and hidden (if you’re white) applications.
The second edition has a very very brief history of the indigenous people who were already living on the land when colonizers began murdering and stealing their way across the continent. I appreciated this addition, as it rly helped to drive home that our current reality of extractive capitalism, deeply entrenched and characterized by the racialization of exploited workers, was by no means an inevitable reality, or just the way humans are. It was a deliberate choice made by wealthy landowners to continue to keep the most land, wealth, and power in the hands of a concentrated few.
TW for historical photos of lynching toward the end of the book. They’re upsetting, but presented to emphasize the loss of humanity that comes at the price of white supremacy. For many white people who see ourselves as non-violent or not racist, or even who think lynch mobs were a thing of the far past, it may seem that it doesn’t have anything to do with us, that we aren’t like the “bad”white people. But the reality is that for every advantage white supremacy gives us, of which we have all benefited from, no matter what our background, it has made this reality possible. It’s inextricably linked.
The second edition has a very very brief history of the indigenous people who were already living on the land when colonizers began murdering and stealing their way across the continent. I appreciated this addition, as it rly helped to drive home that our current reality of extractive capitalism, deeply entrenched and characterized by the racialization of exploited workers, was by no means an inevitable reality, or just the way humans are. It was a deliberate choice made by wealthy landowners to continue to keep the most land, wealth, and power in the hands of a concentrated few.
TW for historical photos of lynching toward the end of the book. They’re upsetting, but presented to emphasize the loss of humanity that comes at the price of white supremacy. For many white people who see ourselves as non-violent or not racist, or even who think lynch mobs were a thing of the far past, it may seem that it doesn’t have anything to do with us, that we aren’t like the “bad”white people. But the reality is that for every advantage white supremacy gives us, of which we have all benefited from, no matter what our background, it has made this reality possible. It’s inextricably linked.
March 3, 2026
This was a great informational book. It discusses a lot of history I didn't know and the origins of race. It explains the when, why, and how the "white" race was invented and not biological. Also, it includes how this was impacted by manifest destiny, nativism, and capitalism. Lastly, it included the profound effects, not only black people, but other POC. A great and MUCH needed book to wrap up BHM.
October 11, 2019
It was pretty redundant, but informative. I think chapter 5 and the afterword were the most helpful. However, I find her call to interpersonal action (rather than structural and legal action) inadequate. She spent the entirety of the book exploring the legal and structural support of white supremacy so therefore that’s where the dismantling needs to occur.
March 23, 2025
A quick look into the entry of "white" & "whiteness" into the lexicon of the US's history of language. It's not a biological term but rather a linguistic one. Great read for anyone struggling to understand what people mean when they say white privilege.
September 4, 2023
Vital. White people, educate ourselves.
September 16, 2016
Great information, too densely written. It would be great to have a popularized version of this academic dissertation.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews