Buying Whiteness: Race, Culture, and Identity from Columbus to Hip-Hop

What does it mean to be white? When and why did men buy the idea that they were "whites," and who sold it to them? The secret history of whiteness is told, for the first time, in this important book by an internationally-acclaimed cultural historian and journalist. Gary Taylor tracks the growth of modern white identity through the history of art, law, literature, science, and sexuality--and through the eyes of black and brown observers. From Columbus to George W. Bush, from Shakespeare to Eminem, from John Bunyan to George Wallace, Buying Whiteness will transform the way you read our past and present.