White Trash

The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America

By: Nancy Isenberg

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter

The New York Times bestseller

A New York Times Notable and Critics’ Top Book of 2016

Longlisted for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction

One of NPR's 10 Best Books Of 2016 Faced Tough Topics Head On

NPR's Book Concierge Guide To 2016’s Great Reads

San Francisco Chronicle's Best of 2016: 100 recommended books

A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2016

Globe & Mail 100 Best of 2016

“Formidable and truth-dealing . . . necessary.”—The New York Times

“This eye-opening investigation into our country’s entrenched social hierarchy is acutely relevant.” —O Magazine

In her groundbreaking bestselling history of the class system in America, Nancy Isenberg upends history as we know it by taking on our comforting myths about equality and 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 who boosted Trump all the way to 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.

©2016, 2017 Nancy Isenberg (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Formidable and truth-dealing…necessary.”–The New York Times

“This eye-opening investigation into our country’s entrenched social hierarchy is acutely relevant.”–O Magazine

“A gritty and sprawling assault on…American mythmaking.”—Washington Post

The best

The middle has a voice always in these writings. A gift to the generations behind us.

A must read for anyone wanting to understand how we ended up so divided.

“White Trash” is a well researched and well told story of how England tried to get rid of its “refuse” people four hundred years ago and American policy and politics have been punishing and profiting off the poor ever since.

I have lived this experience and failed badly.

I was a freshman in high school when my school became the second integrated high school in the state of Louisiana and the only integrated school in my parish for six years.

The black students chosen to attend to this school were top academic students. The first year three seniors, then to as many as 49 percent of my graduating class of 1969.

We went to the oldest but, by then, least privileged school in the city. There weren't more than five or six altercations in the second and third years between the races. But it became obvious to both raced that we were looked down upon and despised by the white community elsewhere in the city. We soon learned to count upon one another at all inter-school events. By graduation time I had as many black friends as white.

In fact, us whites were accepted and treated well in the black community - something which I have experienced throughout the remainder of my 72 years to-date. And in other cultures - sometimes being the only American in the group for days on end.

I found that college proved to be a similar situation. While whites had to adjust to the experience of integration, I had no issues. This was noticed by blacks, whites, and professors.

Later, in the professional world I met with, and befriended black professionals. As we progressed up "the professional ladder" it became apparent to me that those black - as well as white professionals - had lost touch with the less fortunate of their own races.
I discussed my feelings of what we had done with a group of black and white colleagues on several occasions. We thought through the topic as a group and individually over a period of weeks. None of us having come from the privileged class, we soon understood what had taken place.

We also discussed how many of the people. both black and white, that "we left behind" had began to act as crackers, rednecks, and homies - looking for someone to blame and look down upon for their lack of upward mobility. Whether that be race, nationality, or regional in difference.

I thank you profusely for offering this study of human nature to the attention of the masses. Sadly though, I feel it will fall upon deaf ears all over again.

Interesting look at class history

Isenberg makes some very good points but I’d like to see her take the next logical step. She talks about how white trash people have always been a part of America, but she doesn’t really go into the reality that without the “white trash”, the American dream couldn’t exist. If the wealthy patrician types were not able to demonstrate that there was someone less than the more middle classes, the lore of the American dream would fall apart and the people would be less malleable politically. The conceit that upward mobility exists in any meaningful way is one of the main reasons our current tax structure and political structure exist.

Thought provoking

Nancy’s book is very well written. The subjects covered required wandering through a number of what I would normally think of as unrelated subjects. However, she tied them together well. One error: LBJ didn’t defeat Pappy O’Daniel in the Texas US Senate race.

Like a car crash- you can't look away

This is a stunning triumph of history, sociology and human endurance. The author's research and scholarship is flawless: she relies on primary documents to make her case, knitting together personal stories and political decisions that reverberate even today. This is an eye-opening narrative of the true history of our country, blasting away the myths of America being 'classless society,' and the 'work ethic.' Even from the very beginning of the Jamestown settlement, people were divided, condemned as not being 'good enough' and relegated to the trash heap. The author moves quickly from the past to the present... this is a book that should be read, must be read and the lessons within must not be disregarded. Much of the unrest and the current divisions in our country can be explain here. Don't look for our current trumpian chaos here, this was published in 2016, but you will find all rationale for his fervent, mislead followers.

An eye opener !

It kept my attention for sure!we have not changed much in 400 years. so sad.

The system still lives on

Informative facts that rip the bandaid off. Needs to be converted to a mini series so more people can become aware of how the system works and begin to look to what has and has not worked to chart a course going forward

A perspective every American should hear.

The narration was great, the book was informative….i will never look at a Thanksgiving turkey the same. 😆

Class identify is a powerful thing

I loved the in depth look at different kind of white people and their struggle for class identity, thought out the ages. I also appreciate that this book didn't look down on the waste people of America but empathized with their choices and attitudes.