redrobinbookreviews

White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America   Nancy Isenberg
The problems with this book begin with the title; it’s a “history” of an underclass that exists only in the traditional south, not “in America” at large. While all the details she uses point to it, Isenberg never admits what is completely obvious: the underclass she is discussing was created and perpetuated by slavery, and exits only in the south. She gets badly muddled between class, race, and economic status without clarifying the distinctions, perhaps intentionally blurring them. Some good information on the founding of Georgia, but much of the other history was already well known to me. In the end, unconvincing. Disappointing.