Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi

Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America

Ibram X. Kendi
Nation Books (2016)

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Rating: ★★★★☆
Tags: Americas, Historical Study & Educational Resources, Politics & Social Sciences, Sociology, Race Relations, Discrimination & Racism, Social History, Race & Ethnicity, Social Sciences, History, United States, General, Social Science, Discrimination & Race Relations
Americasttt Historical Study & Educational Resourcesttt Politics & Social Sciencesttt Sociologyttt Race Relationsttt Discrimination & Racismttt Social Historyttt Race & Ethnicityttt Social Sciencesttt Historyttt United Statesttt Generalttt Social Sciencettt Discrimination & Race Relationsttt
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    **LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD
    "ENGROSSING AND RELENTLESS" * -- ****The Washington Post
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    "AMBITIOUS, MAGISTERIAL" *-- Starred Kirkus Review
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    "MUST FOR SERIOUS READERS" *-- Library Journal
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    "HEAVILY RESEARCHED YET READABLE" --*Booklist *
    Some Americans cling desperately to the myth that we are living in a post-racial society, that the election of the first Black president spelled the doom of racism. In fact, racist thought is alive and well in America--more sophisticated and more insidious than ever. And as award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi argues in  Stamped from the Beginning , if we have any hope of grappling with this stark reality, we must first understand how racist ideas were developed, disseminated, and enshrined in American society.

In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti-Black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history. Stamped from the Beginning uses the life stories of five major American intellectuals to offer a window into the contentious debates between assimilationists and segregationists and between racists and anti racists. From Puritan minister Cotton Mather to Thomas Jefferson, from fiery abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison to brilliant scholar W.E.B. Du Bois to legendary anti-prison activist Angela Davis, Kendi shows how and why some of our leading proslavery and pro-civil rights thinkers have challenged or helped cement racist ideas in America.
    Contrary to popular conceptions, racist ideas did not arise from ignorance or hatred. Instead, they were devised and honed by some of the most brilliant minds of each era. These intellectuals used their brilliance to justify and rationalize deeply entrenched discriminatory policies and the nation's racial disparities in everything from wealth to health. And while racist ideas are easily produced and easily consumed, they can also be discredited. In shedding much-needed light on the murky history of racist ideas, Stamped from the Beginning  offers us the tools we need to expose them--and in the process, gives us reason to hope.
    **
    Review
    "Ibram Kendi is an important new voice in African American intellectual and social history. This book, an intellectual history of racist ideas, promises to break important new ground for scholarly and general audiences interested in the construction of racism in America."
--Peniel E. Joseph, author of Stokely: A Life and Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour
    "Both a penetrating treatise and a wonderfully accessible work of intellectual history, Stamped from the Beginning reveals the heritage of ideas behind the modern dialectic of race-denial and race-obsession. By historicizing our entrenched logic of racial difference, Kendi shows why "I don't see color" and other professions of post-racialism remain inexorable alibis for white supremacy. Stamped from the Beginning has done the cause of anti-racism a great service."
—Russell Rickford, Associate Professor, Cornell University, and author of We Are an African People: Independent Education, Black Power, and the Radical Imagination
    "Richly sourced and engaging, Ibram X. Kendi's Stamped from the Beginning is a highly accessible yet provocative