White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America

一部突破性的美國四百年階級史，討論最被忽略的一群─處於社會底層的窮苦白人。不要以為美國只有種族問題！Isenberg這本里程碑之作，揭露了400年來遭統治階層不公對待的貧窮白人史，也是間接理解唐納．川普大受美國中低階層白人歡迎的原因。「種族隔離政策的大量研究，打破了美國國族認同的眾多迷思；在這本精彩的社會史研究中，作者接挑戰美國”沒有階級的神話”…。從優生學運動，到傲慢鄉巴佬的崛起，Isenberg描繪了美國關於階級特權非常真實且重要的歷史。」－－《柯克斯評論》(Kirkus Reviews)星級推薦美國共和黨總統候選人唐納．川普的言論，幾乎得罪了全球，但他在美國的聲勢卻始終不墜，很大的原因是他獲得了眾多中低階層白人家庭的支持。這群在400年的美國史中極少被探討的對象，一直刺痛著統治階層始終不願面對的真相：美國不僅存在種族問題，階級不平等更是潛藏在陽光滿溢的美國夢中一片殘酷的黑影。從英國殖民美國的早期開始，就一直存在著生活窮困、沒有土地的白人，他們以”廢人”、”動物內臟”、”垃圾”、”懶人”、”吹牛者”等各種貶抑的名稱而為人所知。到了1850年代，這些被壓迫的白人，也包括了所謂的”吃土人”、”沙丘人”等這些泛指有著蠟黃膚色、襤褸衣衫、毫無精氣神的未成年兒童。這些名詞，都隱喻了生活在美國的不同年代的窮苦白人。作者研究了橫跨400年的美國政策及其宣導語言、大眾文學與科學理論，顛覆了人們以為美國是個只需要自由與努力工作就能確保階級流動的社會。窮苦白人是19世紀早期共和黨興起的重要原因；美國內戰不只與解放黑奴相關，它同樣也包含了社會階級的議題；推廣優生學的對象，不僅有黑人，還有貧窮的白人，這個政策被老羅斯福所大力推廣，主要的目的是要消滅貧窮的白人。這些貧困白人是羅斯福”新政”與詹森總統”偉大社會”計畫的核心。美國電視實境秀《甜心波波來了》(Here Comes Honey Boo Boo)與《鴨子王朝》(Duck Dynasty)，也一直在提醒美國，這些中下階層的白人家庭始終存在著，他們以一種低俗的娛樂效果，讓人坐立難安，甚至感到噁心與羞愧。The New York Times Besteller, with a new preface from the author"This estimable book rides into the summer doldrums like rural electrification. . . . It deals in the truths that matter."--Dwight Garner, The New York Times"This eye-opening investigation into our country's entrenched social hierarchy is acutely relevant."--O, The Oprah Magazine"White Trash will change the way we think about our past and present."--T. J. Stiles, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Custer's TrialsIn her groundbreaking bestselling history of the class system in America, Nancy Isenberg, #4 on the 2016 Politico 50 list, takes on our comforting myths about equality, uncovering the crucial legacy of the ever-present, always embarrassing--if occasionally entertaining--poor white trash."When you turn an election into a three-ring circus, there's always a chance that the dancing bear will win," says Isenberg of the political climate surrounding Sarah Palin. And we recognize how right she is today. Yet the voters that put Trump in the White House have been a permanent part of our American fabric, argues Isenberg.The wretched and landless poor have existed from the time of the earliest British colonial settlement to today's hillbillies. They were alternately known as "waste people," "offals," "rubbish," "lazy lubbers," and "crackers." By the 1850s, the downtrodden included so-called "clay eaters" and "sandhillers," known for prematurely aged children distinguished by their yellowish skin, ragged clothing, and listless minds.Surveying political rhetoric and policy, popular literature and scientific theories over four hundred years, Isenberg upends assumptions about America's supposedly class-free society--where liberty and hard work were meant to ensure real social mobility. Poor whites were central to the rise of the Republican Party in the early nineteenth century, and the Civil War itself was fought over class issues nearly as much as it was fought over slavery. Reconstruction pitted poor white trash against newly freed slaves, which factored in the rise of eugenics--a widely popular movement embraced by Theodore Roosevelt that targeted poor whites for sterilization. These poor were at the heart of New Deal reforms and LBJ's Great Society; they haunt us in reality TV shows like Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and Duck Dynasty. Marginalized as a class, white trash have always been at or near the center of major political debates over the character of the American identity.We acknowledge racial injustice as an ugly stain on our nation's history. With Isenberg's landmark book, we will have to face the truth about the enduring, malevolent nature of class as well.