The History of White People

The title's a bit misleading, as this is more a history of perceptions of race and whiteness than a literal history of white people. From the ancient white slave trade around the Balkans during the classical period, to the Visigoths/Gauls/Rome's general misperceptions of anyone north/northwest, to British imperialism and American racism, this is a broad, fun, informative book. It's also, apparently, really polarizing (the Amazon ratings are an inverted U) - I'm not sure exactly why, since I didn't find anything terribly provocative there, but I suppose people who study race/racism may feel differently. I found the most interesting chapters to be those entitled “The Enlargement of American Whiteness” - examining immigration and assimilation and eugenics in 19th century America. Some crazy stuff. Overall, an engaging primer on a fascinating/weird topic.