Description
Book Synopsis'âfrom time to time a study comes along that truly can be called âpath breaking,â âseminal,â âessential,â a âmust read.â How the Irish Became White is such a study.' John Bracey, W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, University of Massachussetts, Amherst
The Irish came to America in the eighteenth century, fleeing a homeland under foreign occupation and a caste system that regarded them as the lowest form of humanity. In the new country â a land of opportunity â they found a very different form of social hierarchy, one that was based on the color of a personâs skin. Noel Ignatievâs 1995 book â the first published work of one of Americaâs leading and most controversial historians â tells the story of how the oppressed became the oppressors; how the new Irish immigrants achieved acceptance among an initially hostile population only by proving that they could be more brutal in their oppression of African Americans than the nativists. This is the story of How the Irish Became White.
Trade Review'…from time to time a study comes along that truly can be called ‘path breaking,’ ‘seminal,’ ‘essential,’ a ‘must read.’ How the Irish Became White is such a study.' - John Bracey, W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, University of Massachussetts, Amherst
'…from time to time a study comes along that truly can be called ‘path breaking,’ ‘seminal,’ ‘essential,’ a ‘must read.’ How the Irish Became White is such a study.' John Bracey, W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, University of Massachussetts, Amherst
Table of ContentsIntroduction to the Routledge Classics Edition. List of Illustrations. Acknowledgements. Introduction Part 1: Something in the Air Part 2: White Negroes and Smoked Irish Part 3: The Transubstantiation of an Irish Revolutionary Part 4: They Swung their Picks Part 5: The Tumultuous Republic Part 6: From Protestant Ascendancy to White Republic
