The Wages of Whiteness
Race and the Making of the American Working Class

Very useful in both its historical detail and theoretical perspective. The sections on Irish immigration and on minstrel shows are marvelous. The central thesis seems well borne out, and demonstrates in an ancillary way that any social crisis has a reactionary as well as revolutionary potential. The......more

The point of this book is that it has been hugely influential and it is worth reading for that reason, even though it has merely opened the gate through which many later writers have poured. It does not make exaggerated claims for itself and the author’s preface lists defects in a way that I cannot.......more

This is a really quick read and is very relevant to the current American race-class climate. I noticed this book got a lot of bad reviews on here and I disagree with the problems other people found with the book. It seems like either they didn't actually read it, were made uncomfortable by the book'......more

Important and eye opening read on how the powers that be in the United States from the beginning have worked to ensure white workers will become reliable class traitors thanks to institutional and deeply ingrained racism.......more

Controversial, provocative, and intentionally so. Reading the afterward (in the revised edition) provides a lot of insight into Roediger’s perspective since he wrote the book. He admits to faults within his own argumentation and points to other works which have done a better job than some of the cha......more