One Drop of Blood: The American Misadventure of Race - Hardcover

Malcomson, Scott L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374240795 ISBN 13: 9780374240790

Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2000

Synopsis

A study of a great dichotomy in American history explores why a country dedicated to freedom and universal ideals has created a people divided along ethnic lines. 25,000 first printing.

About this title

Review

"Malcomson tracks with a Melvillean intensity the 'unbidden yet unstoppable' evolution of racial categorization in the United States. Close readings of history tease out the manifold ironies and contradictions of the subject."--"The New Yorker"

"Full of swift insights . . . The chapters speed by . . . like a crash course given by a brilliant teacher."--Daniel Blue, "The San Francisco Chronicle"

"This is cultural history written as a nation's collective memoir. Malcomson's ambitious narrative, spanning two centuries of an idea, is bound to become a cornerstone of the new American historiography."--"Talk "

"This book should be read with deliberation, for it invites serious reflection of a kind that for the fair-minded, rational person can only be liberating."--John C. Walter, "Seattle Times"""

"The best single history of race in America in many years, the one to read if you only have time for one book on the subject."--David L. Chappell, "Newsday"

"Explosive and exhilarating . . . Carried through with an ardor and interpretive brilliance that rivals James Baldwin . . . Malcomson has set a new standard of open, honest dialogue on race in America."--Orlando Patterson, "The New York Times Book Review"

"Malcomson's accounts of how whites' myths of racial belonging were woven - out of encounters with Indians in forests primeval, with blacks on African coasts and Virginia riverbanks and with Mexicans in the often-fatuous deliberations of the California Constitutional Convention of 1849--are moral without moralizing, intimate without self-pity or self-importance . . . The result is a book almost biblical . . . with commanding flights of moral imagination and poetry."--Jim Sleeper, "Los Angeles Times"

Malcomson tracks with a Melvillean intensity the 'unbidden yet unstoppable' evolution of racial categorization in the United States. Close readings of history tease out the manifold ironies and contradictions of the subject. "The New Yorker"

Full of swift insights . . . The chapters speed by . . . like a crash course given by a brilliant teacher. "Daniel Blue, The San Francisco Chronicle"

This is cultural history written as a nation's collective memoir. Malcomson's ambitious narrative, spanning two centuries of an idea, is bound to become a cornerstone of the new American historiography. "Talk"

This book should be read with deliberation, for it invites serious reflection of a kind that for the fair-minded, rational person can only be liberating. "John C. Walter, Seattle Times"

The best single history of race in America in many years, the one to read if you only have time for one book on the subject. "David L. Chappell, Newsday"

Explosive and exhilarating . . . Carried through with an ardor and interpretive brilliance that rivals James Baldwin . . . Malcomson has set a new standard of open, honest dialogue on race in America. "Orlando Patterson, The New York Times Book Review"

Malcomson's accounts of how whites' myths of racial belonging were woven out of encounters with Indians in forests primeval, with blacks on African coasts and Virginia riverbanks and with Mexicans in the often-fatuous deliberations of the California Constitutional Convention of 1849--are moral without moralizing, intimate without self-pity or self-importance . . . The result is a book almost biblical . . . with commanding flights of moral imagination and poetry. "Jim Sleeper, Los Angeles Times""

"Malcomson tracks with a Melvillean intensity the 'unbidden yet unstoppable' evolution of racial categorization in the United States. Close readings of history tease out the manifold ironies and contradictions of the subject." --The New Yorker

"Full of swift insights . . . The chapters speed by . . . like a crash course given by a brilliant teacher." --Daniel Blue, The San Francisco Chronicle

"This is cultural history written as a nation's collective memoir. Malcomson's ambitious narrative, spanning two centuries of an idea, is bound to become a cornerstone of the new American historiography." --Talk

"This book should be read with deliberation, for it invites serious reflection of a kind that for the fair-minded, rational person can only be liberating." --John C. Walter, Seattle Times

"The best single history of race in America in many years, the one to read if you only have time for one book on the subject." --David L. Chappell, Newsday

"Explosive and exhilarating . . . Carried through with an ardor and interpretive brilliance that rivals James Baldwin . . . Malcomson has set a new standard of open, honest dialogue on race in America." --Orlando Patterson, The New York Times Book Review

"Malcomson's accounts of how whites' myths of racial belonging were woven - out of encounters with Indians in forests primeval, with blacks on African coasts and Virginia riverbanks and with Mexicans in the often-fatuous deliberations of the California Constitutional Convention of 1849--are moral without moralizing, intimate without self-pity or self-importance . . . The result is a book almost biblical . . . with commanding flights of moral imagination and poetry." --Jim Sleeper, Los Angeles Times

About the Author

Scott Malcomson's previous books are Tuturani: A Political Journey in the Pacific Islands and Borderlands: Nation and Empire. From 1984 to 1996 he worked at The Village Voice in a variety of jobs, including a seven-year stint as senior editor at the VLS.

About this edition

• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0374240795
• ISBN 13: 9780374240790
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 584