First published 2017
Historian Ibram X. Kendi examines how racist ideas took root and evolved throughout American history. He argues these concepts did not emerge from ignorance or hatred but were deliberately constructed to justify discriminatory policies and racial inequities. Kendi structures his analysis around five influential American intellectuals: Puritan minister Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, W.E.B. Du Bois, and activist Angela Davis. Through their life stories, he demonstrates how nearly every major American thinker participated in creating or spreading anti-Black racist thought. The book reveals that racist thinking has become increasingly sophisticated and pervasive, challenging claims that America has achieved a post-racial society. Kendi's research exposes the deliberate nature of racist ideology while providing readers with analytical tools to recognize and counter such thinking in contemporary society.
Genres: history, african-american, non-fiction, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-fiction, social-justice
Setting: America
Period: 19th-century, 20th-century
582 pages · Paperback · Bold Type Books
Content warnings: racism