Nancy Isenberg

"A history of the class system in America from the colonial era to the present illuminates the crucial legacy of the underprivileged white demographic, citing the pivotal contributions of lower-class white workers in wartime, social policy, and the rise of the Republican Party,"--NoveList.

The 400-year Untold History of Class in America

White Trash

In White Trash, Nancy Isenberg upends assumptions about America's supposedly class-free society and shows how poor whites have been deeply ingrained in the country's history for the past 400 years. They were central to the both the Civil War itself and the rise of the Republican Party, and still today feature in reality TV as entertainment. White trash have always been an integral part of the American identity, and here their history in both culture and politics in explored in depth. A fascinating work that's timely to today's public debate about rich and poor.

Patrick Book

A truly compelling lens through which to view the history of America. Really!

Lindy

White Trash is not a bad book, but it is a long and rather dense one. I don't consider myself an expert on the history of class in the United States, but after having read this entire book, I don't feel like I learned any substantial new thing. 

Isenberg writes in the conclusion (313): 
"If this book accomplishes anything it will be to have exposed a number of myths about the American dream, to have disabused readers of the notion that upward mobility is a function of the founders' ingenious plan, or that Jacksonian democracy was liberating, or that the Confederacy was about states' rights rather than preserving class and racial distinctions."

I wasn't a believer of these myths when I started reading this book, so maybe that's why I didn't get all that much out of it. If you do believe any of the above things and are interested in challenging those beliefs, this book is for you.

I do feel as if there are a few glaring omissions: 

1. While Iseberg details the myriad constructions of "trash," she fails to ever define whiteness or discuss how its social construction has shifted through time. This is enormously frustrating!

2. Isenberg does not discuss immigration, like, at all. With regard to my point above, I think an examination of the "new immigrants" of the late nineteenth/early twentieth century would provide another dimension. Isenberg does spend a few paragraphs on the ethnic revival of the 1970s, but it's untethered without understanding these peoples' histories in the United States. (If anyone is interested in this topic, I recommend Roots Too: White Ethnic Revival in Post-Civil Rights America.)

3. Isenberg does discuss Puritanism and the 20th century prosperity gospel, but I think the book would have benefited from a look at Protestantism writ more broadly. I especially feel like discussion of the Second Great Awakening and its tremendous effects on politics is missing.

Summer Stanley

Quite biased (especially the epilogue), but intriguing and engaging nonetheless. Isenberg left some conclusions unsupported and glazed over, specifically those that didn't fit into her "full story of white trash".

Great look into classes amongst the white people in the USA. It starts us back when we were a colony and goes from there. There is a lot I didn't know, and a lot that I found very interesting to learn. It ends up towards current times as well in an epilogue. 

If you are curious about white trash and American history then this is definitely a good read for you!

Jeni Enjaian

I found myself fascinated with this book but a bit disappointed that it did not really live up to the expectations I had when I started reading.
I will admit that more than two weeks have gone by since I finished reading the book and the time of this review. If the book had made more of an impact, I would not struggle as much to come up with something to say about the book. 
I will let that speak for itself.

Alyssa Jacunski

I randomly found this book months ago while scrolling through the nonfiction section of Libby (the app my local library uses for their e- and audiobook collection). Was this this book my absolute favorite nonfiction? No. But was it informative and interesting? Yes absolutely.

This book covers a lot of ground, but is specifically focusing on the development of classism in the United States. Again, it is very specific to the development and history of the poor white class. We spend time in the 1600s all the way through as present day as it can be (being published in 2016). What was really interesting was how Isenberg explored how the United States dealt with and looked upon the poor through the different spaces of time. This includes how various presidents and notable historic figures treated the poor throughout history. My personal favorite included the references to To Kill a Mockingbird. 

Overall, I'm rounding up to four stars. While there were mentions of people of color, I would've liked to better see the interaction of what has historically been called "white trash" with people of color a bit more. While I know the focus of this book is on poor white people, it felt like what people of color faced (which was way worse) was swept under the rug. 

Again, this was interesting and I'm glad I gave this book a chance. A solid 3.5 stars (rounding up for the sake of Goodreads) and am looking forward to reading more history books in the future.

Ilia Markov

An interesting book that explains the history of the USA in class terms -- the claim is that viewpoint is largely ignored by official historians and politicians. 

Too long and without a development of the idea -- it is just repeated throughout the book and throughout history.

Aaron Lewis

This in-depth but approachable exploration of the history and persistence of the American class system was an eye-opening and engaging read. After reading, you will find yourself unable to see the markers of class in our "classless" society.

White Trash The 400-year Untold History of Class in America

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