Saxton asks why white racism remained an ideological force in America long after the need to justify slavery and Western conquest had disappeared

In this acclaimed historical study, Alexander Saxton establishes the centrality of white racism to American politics and culture. Examining images of race at a popular level - from blackface minstrelsy to the construction of the Western hero, from grassroots political culture to dime novels - as well as the philosophical constructions of the political elite, it is a powerful and comprehensive account of the ideological forces at work in the formation of modern America.

"This is grand history ... an extraordinary book packed with detail and argument ... destined to provoke deep self-searching among its sensitive readers-and probably also wounded cries from the old-line historical establishment." - The Nation