White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America in Around the World in 80 Books

Nov 21, 2016 Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, problems-ideas, poverty

White Trash is a myth-slashing, American-Dream-crushing diatribe about the class divisions that exist now and have always existed in the US. It's a history of class divisions and bigotry against the poor in America. It's a startling picture of American white trash icons---Lyndon Johnson, Dolly Parton, Mayberry, even Elvis---and their role in American culture. It's a difficult read, especially the last chapter where the author lets the Powers-that-Be have it in the face for the scorn they've heap ...more

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Jul 03, 2016 Beverly rated it liked it

Shelves: newtome2016, non-fiction, united-states, history, audio

Isenberg’s accessible book provides a well-rounded look at class, specifically the white lower class from a economic, political, and cultural point-of-view.
While I am aware of the class (and race) structure in the US so the basic premise and the most of the information was not a surprise to me, but it was the structure of the book (linear chapters) and how the author shows how systematic those in power ensured and promote the myths of the lower class that kept me reading.
The book shines in the c ...more

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Aug 11, 2016 Kent Winward rated it really liked it

The premise of exploring the white underclass held a lot of promise, but the book could never seem to get a grasp on an underlying premise. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness did a better job of showing how the moneyed classes pitted the poor against the poor on the basis of race for their own purposes. American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America does a much better job of ferreting out the source of the different cultural tend ...more

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