THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the Civil War to our combustible present, White Rage reframes the continuing conversation about race in America, chronicling the history of the powerful forces opposed to black progress. Since the abolishment of slavery in 1865, every time African Americans have made advances towards full democratic participation, white reaction has fuelled a rollback of any gains. Carefully linking historical flashpoints – from the post-Civil War Black Codes and Jim Crow to expressions of white rage after the election of America's first black president – Carol Anderson renders visible the long lineage of white rage and the different names under which it hides. Compelling and dramatic in the history it relates, White Rage adds a vital new dimension to the conversation about race in America. 'Beautifully written and exhaustively researched' CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE 'An extraordinarily timely and urgent call to confront the legacy of structural racism' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW 'Brilliant' ROBIN DIANGELO, AUTHOR OF WHITE FRAGILITY

National Book Critics Circle Award Winner New York Times Bestseller USA Today Bestseller A New York Times Notable Book of the Year A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of the Year A Boston Globe Best Book of 2016 A Chicago Review of Books Best Nonfiction Book of 2016 From the Civil War to our combustible present, acclaimed historian Carol Anderson reframes our continuing conversation about race, chronicling the powerful forces opposed to black progress in America. As Ferguson, Missouri, erupted in August 2014, and media commentators across the ideological spectrum referred to the angry response of African Americans as “black rage,” historian Carol Anderson wrote a remarkable op-ed in The Washington Post suggesting that this was, instead, "white rage at work. With so much attention on the flames," she argued, "everyone had ignored the kindling." Since 1865 and the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, every time African Americans have made advances towards full participation in our democracy, white reaction has fueled a deliberate and relentless rollback of their gains. The end of the Civil War and Reconstruction was greeted with the Black Codes and Jim Crow; the Supreme Court's landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision was met with the shutting down of public schools throughout the South while taxpayer dollars financed segregated white private schools; the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 triggered a coded but powerful response, the so-called Southern Strategy and the War on Drugs that disenfranchised millions of African Americans while propelling presidents Nixon and Reagan into the White House, and then the election of America's first black President, led to the expression of white rage that has been as relentless as it has been brutal. Carefully linking these and other historical flashpoints when social progress for African Americans was countered by deliberate and cleverly crafted opposition, Anderson pulls back the veil that has long covered actions made in the name of protecting democracy, fiscal responsibility, or protection against fraud, rendering visible the long lineage of white rage. Compelling and dramatic in the unimpeachable history it relates, White Rage will add an important new dimension to the national conversation about race in America.

White Rage examines the development of the modern American extreme right and American politics from the 1950s to the present day. It explores the full panoply of extreme right groups, from the remnants of the Ku Klux Klan to skinhead groups and from the militia groups to neo-nazis. In developing its argument the book: discusses the American extreme right in the context of the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11 and the Bush administration; explores the American extreme right’s divisions and its pursuit of alliances; analyses the movement’s hostilities to other racial groups. Written in a moment of crisis for the leading extreme right groups, this original study challenges the frequent equation of the extreme right with other sections of the American right. It is a movement whose development and future will be of interest to anyone concerned with race relations and social conflict in modern America.

Critically analyses the historical, cultural and political dimensions of white religious rage in America, past and present This book sheds light on the phenomenon of white rage, and maps out the uneasy relationship between white anxiety, religious fervour, American identity and perceived black racial progress. Contributors to the volume examine the sociological construct of the "e;white labourer"e;, whose concerns and beliefs can be understood as religious in foundation, and uncover that white religious fervor correlates to notions of perceived white loss and perceived black progress. In discussions ranging from the Constitution to the Charlottesville riots to the evangelical community's uncritical support for Trump, the authors of this collection argue that it is not economics but religion and race that stand as the primary motivating factors for the rise of white rage and white supremacist sentiment in the United States.

White Rage examines the development of the modern American extreme right and American politics from the 1950s to the present day. It explores the full panoply of extreme right groups, from the remnants of the Ku Klux Klan to skinhead groups and from the militia groups to neo-nazis. In developing its argument the book: discusses the American extreme right in the context of the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11 and the Bush administration; explores the American extreme right’s divisions and its pursuit of alliances; analyses the movement’s hostilities to other racial groups. Written in a moment of crisis for the leading extreme right groups, this original study challenges the frequent equation of the extreme right with other sections of the American right. It is a movement whose development and future will be of interest to anyone concerned with race relations and social conflict in modern America.

Critically analyses the historical, cultural and political dimensions of white religious rage in America, past and present This book sheds light on the phenomenon of white rage, and maps out the uneasy relationship between white anxiety, religious fervour, American identity and perceived black racial progress. Contributors to the volume examine the sociological construct of the "white labourer", whose concerns and beliefs can be understood as religious in foundation, and uncover that white religious fervor correlates to notions of perceived white loss and perceived black progress. In discussions ranging from the Constitution to the Charlottesville riots to the evangelical community's uncritical support for Trump, the authors of this collection argue that it is not economics but religion and race that stand as the primary motivating factors for the rise of white rage and white supremacist sentiment in the United States. Stephen C. Finley is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Louisiana State University. Biko Mandela Gray is Assistant Professor of Religion at Syracuse University. Lori Latrice Martin is Professor of Sociology and Professor of African and African American Studies at Louisiana State University. Cover image: (c) Shutterstock.com Cover design: [EUP logo] edinburghuniversitypress.com ISBN 978-1-4744-7370-5 Barcode

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The road to atonement for America’s sin was not just the end of slavery, but also the full citizenship and rights of African Americans. #2 Lincoln had shown his hand early in the war. He had selected Chiriquí, a resource-poor area in what is now Panama, as the new home for millions of African Americans. He just needed to convince them to leave. #3 Lincoln’s lack of clarity about the purpose and cause of the war stemmed from his desire to shroud the reality of slavery under the guise of preserving the Union. #4 The drive to be free meant that 179,000 soldiers, 10 percent of the Union Army, was African American. The military service of these men needed to carry with it citizenship rights and the dignity that comes from no longer being defined as property or legally inferior.