The History of White People - Nell Irvin Painter

This post has 9 comments

• 
  ssitimefill
  January 22nd, 2015
  

  Not so sure about this book, based on amazon.com reviews.

  The History of White People - Nell Irvin Painter
• 
  Jon
  January 23rd, 2015
  

  I don’t give much creed to Amazon.com reviews. It has as much miss information as twitter, where often people with an agenda comment on stuff they neither know or understand (often they haven’t even READ the books).

  That being said i’m going to give it a go. Some of the basic stuff seems interesting, although I don’t expect 100% accuracy by any stretch.

  I think white people have gotten a bad rap lately (i’m white, for clarity sake). For all the bad people lay on them their is just as much, if not more, good; and strangely people get irate if you even try to read or even promote/read/etc, the good things whites have done.

  Some facts that solidified some of my views are:
  1. Blacks (heck all races) enslaved blacks too, and whites, et al. for centuries both for racial and non-racial reasons.
  2. White people fought and died for the freedom of blacks, and others’, freedom.
  3. White people lead the way in many areas, not because they were “better”, or even “privileged” but often just because they were motivated.

  Currently this book is somewhere in the 30s on my list of books to read, so it may take me a while to get to it, but if and when I do, I’ll try to remember to come back and give some more feedback.

  p.s. Amazon reviews ARE fun to read sometimes though, look up uranium, banana stand, and/or 50 shades of gray if you want some fun reviews to read.

  The History of White People - Nell Irvin Painter
• 
  YoungDonDraper
  January 31st, 2015
  

  So, the author is an African American historian who has mainly focused on African history in her career. Google her name before you read the book, there appears to be at least a decent chance of bias in the author, which is obviously something one should always be aware of when reading a nonficiton piece.

  The History of White People - Nell Irvin Painter
• 
  emil
  February 19th, 2015
  

  Anybody who really has read the book? Otherwise - in science one is always aware of the problem of bias. But choosing the subject - i.e. history of the white race - is not biased as such.

  The History of White People - Nell Irvin Painter
• 
  Steve
  October 22nd, 2016
  

  To Jon - You are a racist, white supremacist, plain and simple.

  To YoungDonDraper - Do you presume that white historians who write political history about US presidents are biased, because they primarily write about white people? Really, WTF are you saying?! It sounds to me like you’re saying because Painter is black, she cannot be trusted. As much as you might wish it were so, you’re not living in the time period that the young Don Draper would’ve lived in. So it seems to me that you need to read or hear Painter’s book, and while you’re at it, listen to Ira Katznelson’s book, ‘When Affirmative Action was White,’ also available here. And because Katznelson isn’t black, you shouldn’t have a problem with him as an author. (Though Jon, I suspect you would have a problem with Katznelson, because he is Jewish, and you sound like you’re coming from the KKK, or the NSM, or perhaps just the Trump campaign.)

  And btw, Nell Irvin Painter is a first-rate American historian from Princeton. Her work has been very highly regarded by scholars and students across the profession, starting with her 1987 book, ‘Standing at Armageddon: The United States, 1877-1919,’ chronicling an especially tumultuous time in U.S. history. Despite her early interest in the popular movements of that era, Painter is no radical leftist. She’s simply a thoughtful liberal, and a truly superb scholar.

  Ira Katznelson is also an extremely well-respected scholar, but I’ll discuss him, if need be, on another webpage.

  The History of White People - Nell Irvin Painter
• 
  bpv
  February 16th, 2017
  

  Good lord, Steve. Do you listen to yourself? You can’t see why a woman who has made her whole career in one kind of study does a hard turn into another area with a clear idea to prove (let’s face it she was never going to prove all the good white have done in the world), yet Jon has some legit reservations and he’s a racist “pure and simple.” Why it is pure and simple when it comes to a white person being a racist? You’re ridiculous.

  It also doesn’t matter how many degrees and laurels the woman has, a book titled “the history of white people” is in of itself provocative in the worst way possible. If ANY white or jewish or asian person wrote the history of black people, you’d lose your shit.

  I love how you regard anyone on a scale of how racist they could be. Hilarious. You address everyone with this appraising eye like a decorator looking at a living. “Hmm well you might not be racist but probably, no look at the way you said ‘white person’ with such pride, you must be a German, Hitler would love you YOU RACIST.” haha.

  The world must be great for you, Steve. It’s all so simple and you YOU get to spread the good word. You’re like one of those awful christians who shout at you in the street.

  The History of White People - Nell Irvin Painter
• 
  bpv
  February 16th, 2017
  

  Steve, you’re a jerk off.

  The History of White People - Nell Irvin Painter
• 
  DragonDoom
  February 4th, 2024
  

  Could someone seed?

  The History of White People - Nell Irvin Painter
• 
  Audio.Book.Pirate
  August 30th, 2024
  

  For people who are actually interested in this book: it is a history of the CONCEPT of white people. Because in the 14th century, no one thought of themselves as “white”, but by the 19th century it was “understood” that some people belonged to a white race… A category that expanded over the 20th century to include previous “non-white” people’s (Italians, Latinos, Jews, Slavs) in response to political realities.

  It’s a book about how race is constructed, which is not the same as a book about race.

  The History of White People - Nell Irvin Painter

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