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

by Kendi, Ibram X.
ISBN: 9781568585987
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Overview

The National Book Award winning history of how racist ideas were created, spread, and deeply rooted in American society.

Some Americans insist that we're living in a post-racial society. But racist thought is not just alive and well in America--it is more sophisticated and more insidious than ever. And as award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi argues, racist ideas have a long and lingering history, one in which nearly every great American thinker is complicit.

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. He uses the life stories of five major American intellectuals to drive this history: Puritan minister Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, W.E.B. Du Bois, and legendary activist Angela Davis.

As Kendi shows, racist ideas did not arise from ignorance or hatred. They were created to justify and rationalize deeply entrenched discriminatory policies and the nation's racial inequities.

In shedding light on this history, Stamped from the Beginning offers us the tools we need to expose racist thinking. In the process, he gives us reason to hope.

Praise for Stamped from the Beginning:

"We often describe a wonderful book as 'mind-blowing' or 'life-changing' but I've found this rarely to actually be the case. I found both descriptions accurate for Ibram X. Kendi's Stamped from the Beginning... I will never look at racial discrimination again after reading this marvellous, ambitious, and clear-sighted book." - George Saunders, Financial Times, Best Books of 2017

"Ambitious, well-researched and worth the time of anyone who wants to understand racism." - Seattle Times

"A deep (and often disturbing) chronicling of how anti-black thinking has entrenched itself in the fabric of American society." - The Atlantic

  • Winner of the 2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction
  • A New York Times Bestseller
  • A Washington Post Bestseller
  • On President Obama's Black History Month Recommended Reading List
  • Finalist for the 2016 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction
  • Named one of the Best Books of the Year by the Boston Globe, Washington Post, Chicago Review of Books, The Root, Buzzfeed, Bustle, and Entropy

  • Format: TradePaperback
  • Author: Kendi, Ibram X.
  • ISBN: 9781568585987
  • Condition: Used
  • Dimensions: 9.10 x 1.70
  • Number Of Pages: 608
  • Publication Year: 2017

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  • Relevant and essential

    Hannah S. - 3 years 4 months ago

    Stamped from the Beginning is an exhaustive history of the development and perpetuation of racist ideas in America. Historian Ibram X. Kendi argues that all ideas about race belong to one of three major philosophies, which he refers to as segregationist, assimilationist or anti-racist. Kendi demonstrates that the history of race relations is a story of the three-way debate between these ideas. Understanding this ongoing conflict gives readers some perspective on America's racial past and provides a framework for interpreting race relations today. This book could have been a very dry, 600-page, chronological inventory of facts and figures, but Kendi chose to frame the history lesson around five life stories, making it much more engaging. Each section of the book follows the life of a different public intellectual, chosen to represent the dominant racial beliefs of their respective eras. This is an essential read for anyone interested in understanding the current state of race relations.

    HPB Staff Review

  • Add to library

    KEVIN T. - 4 years 10 months ago

    Very well written. Author chronicles dates and events that I was familiar with, but he added additional facts that provided a different perspective. The footnotes! Refer to the footnotes...

  • A MUST READ for all Americans

    Ricardo A. - 5 years 6 months ago

    A MUST READ. An upending of precious historical myths or oversights we're handed over over the course of our education. All but 2 pages resonated incredibly well with challenging our current lenses by examining the past. #BannedBook

  • Yes, it's long, but it's a GREAT read.

    HPB S. - 5 years 8 months ago

    phenomenal and detailed book about the history of racial inequities in America. Highly recommend!

  • Essential Anti-racism Reading

    stu h. - 5 years 9 months ago

    I highly recommend this book for all Americans. It will heighten the awareness of every reader--especially those who think they are not racist. #SummerReview