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

When I bought White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg, I thought I knew what the book would contain. I thought I understood the class history of America. Isenberg presents a history that makes so much more sense that the romanticized version of history I was taught in high school. She argues effectively for the idea that we've always had a class system in America and that we all buy into that class system even while proclaiming we are a classless society. Isenberg presents factual elements and references historical documents to support her supposition that America has always been a country with a class system. Her expansive discussion of indentured servitude and other poor people shipped to America in our early history is enlightening. She discusses how our class system affects everything from the economy to politics. I felt uncomfortable at times because I really wanted to resist parts of the book that didn't resonate with what I wanted to believe. In those cases, I needed to stop and think about my resistance to see if it was grounded in facts or in the narrative I want to believe. White Trash is an unvarnished look at how America's society developed and morphed over time leaving the question of where it goes from here...

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