What people are saying…
Michael Eric Dyson
New York Times bestselling author of Tears We Cannot Stop
“Philip Kadish shines a provocative light on America’s racial history . . . a timely and illuminating exploration… With accessible and engaging prose and academic rigor, Kadish is one to watch.”
David S. Reynolds, Bancroft Prize-winning cultural historian
Author of John Brown, Abolitionist and Walt Whitman’s America
"Philip Kadish reveals that our time of fake news and alternative facts is not much different from Abraham Lincoln’s era of humbug—the period of P.T. Barnum’s crowd-thrilling frauds and Melville’s shape-shifting confidence man. Anyone interested in the intersection of race, politics, and public lies in America will want to read this book.”
Robert Reid-Pharr, literary and cultural critic
Author of Archives of Flesh: African America, Spain, and Post-Humanist Critique
In "this rigorously argued and beautifully written treatment of the history of American racism historian Philip Kadish Identifies “a hoaxing mode” standing at the center of U.S. culture, historian Philip Kadish traces two centuries of “irrational” racist thought in the United States that has found its latest articulation in the rhetoric of Donald Trump and the Make America Great Again Movement. Arguing that the “crisis of truth” that so vexes our current moment is itself a long-standing phenomenon built on the need to reinforce the always fraying logics of white supremacy, Kadish treats an impressive array of materials."
Steven W. Thrasher, journalist
Author of The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide
“The Great White Hoax brilliantly illustrates how the myth of so-called white supremacy is a fraud which has been perpetuated by journalists, authors, and politicians.”
Jonathan Peter Spiro, historian
Author of Defending the Master Race: Conservation, Eugenics, and the Legacy of Madison Grant
“Kadish’s beautifully written, endlessly fascinating, and stunningly insightful book brilliantly reveals that for most of American history hucksters have used scientific fraud to justify white supremacy, subjugate the ‘other,’ gain political power, and augment their bank accounts. The Great White Hoax masterfully demonstrates that the recent bout of racism catalyzed by Donald Trump is not an aberration in American history, but rather a depressing return to form.”