Description
Book SynopsisAmerican myths about national character tend to overshadow the historical realities. Reginald Horsman’s book is the first study to examine the origins of racialism in America and to show that the belief in white American superiority was firmly ensconced in the nation’s ideology by 1850.
Trade ReviewA work of monumental scope. [Horsman] has permanently changed the accepted scholarly understanding of racial Anglo-Saxonism. * Reviews in American History *
The most lucidly written, comprehensive portrayal of antebellum racial thought to date. * The Yale Review *
The book offers an insightful perspective stressing the unity of racist thought… Well written and organized,
Race and Manifest Destiny confronts an important subject in western history, yet never loses sight of the broader themes of the American past. * Western Historical Quarterly *
A well-documented, in-depth study of antebellum racial thought which challenges the older view of historians that racial Anglo-Saxonism was not intellectually ascendant in American thought before the Civil War… A very important contribution. * Indiana Magazine of History *
Table of ContentsIntroduction I. European and Colonial Origins 1. Liberty and the Anglo-Saxons 2. Aryans Follow the Sun 3. Science and Inequality 4. Racial Anglo-Saxonism in England II. American Destiny 5. Providential Nation 6. The Other Americans 7. Superior and Inferior Races 8. The Dissemination of Scientific Racialism 9. Romantic Racial Nationalism III. An Anglo-Saxon Political Ideology 10. Racial Destiny and the Indians 11. Anglo-Saxons and Mexicans 12. Race, Expansion, and the Mexican War 13. A Confused Minority 14. Expansion and World Mission Conclusion Notes Index
