The Invention of the White Race: Racial Oppression and Social Control (Invention of the White Race)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent historiography and history of american racism
Review: Allen begins volume 1 by reviewing the many histories of American racism written in the 20th century. Dividing the arguments into the psycho-cultural school and the socio-economic school of thought, he teases out the strengths and flaws of their scholarship. Allen then posits racial oppression as a deliberate ruling-class decision (constantly undergoing renewal) to prevent property-less European Americans from allying themselves with enslaved and free African Americans by offering the European Americans privileges based on white skin. His solution is to study "racism" rather than "race" because studies of race always devolve onto discussions of the body--onto those who are perceived to possess race--and thus avoids the real issue. That issue is the institutionalization of racism, how it functions systemically. He argues that race(ism) should be treated like any other oppression such as those oppressions practiced on people of a certain class or gender. It is a strong, well researched, tightly argued work. He proves that the "white race" can be "gotten on a technicality" because it was and is indeed an invented rather than a natural category.

Rating:
Summary: Don't let facts get in the way of a good story!!
Review: From Allen's book: 25. Whatever exactly the remonstrants (Irish) meant by their word "race," their grievances, like those of the African-Americans and the American Indians we have cited, bore the hallmark of racial oppression. From the Petition of 1277 to the Remonstrance of 1317, it was specifically the legal status of the free Irish men, rather than the unfree, which was at issue.

This is typical ignorance of the genetic differences between the Anglo Saxons and Celts. Scientists have distinguished the domiant Y chromosome of the Irish, Basque and other Celtic peoples from the Anglo Saxon peoples in genetic samples of European populations. Apparently Mr Allen would like to forget about science and lump all white skinned folk into one "race". Good for him, enjoy this fairy tale if you like but if you seek an honest study on the differences and difficulties of race, search elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: A true piece of art... oh wait no, i meant... PROPAGANDA
Review: Why would an author write a book called ,"The Invention of the White Race"? To uncover propaganda we must first understand the writer's INTENTION. So what did this book reveal to us?
That the white race is an invention? Rather than a race just like any other race on the face of the earth?
Unless you want to get religious, then i suppose whites were invented.. by God. But man had little to do with the "invention" of whites, it took millions of years of evolution, rather than some bigot's wild ideas.
When you read this book, ask, why is the writer saying this or that, and ignoring the whole picture.
Propaganda typically does this. Master Propagandists shield themselves under a cloak of Political Correctness or Anti-Racism, to hide their true racist agenda. While sloppy racist propagandists flat out say they are racist.
If you are looking for a study on what whites truly are and their culture and place in the world, this book will not help.
But hey,on the bright side, you'll have something for when you run out of toilet paper.