Hard White, Richard C. Fording
Hard White, Richard C. Fording
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Hard White
The Mainstreaming of Racism in American Politics

Author: Richard C. Fording, Sanford F. Schram

Narrator: Christopher Grove

Unabridged: 9 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 10/20/2020


Synopsis

Hard White explains how the mainstreaming of white nationalism occurred, pointing to two major shifts in the movement. First, Barack Obama's presidential tenure, along with increases in minority representation, fostered white anxiety about Muslims, Latinx immigrants, and black Americans. While anti-Semitic sentiments remained somewhat on the fringes, hostility toward Muslims, Latinos, and African Americans bubbled up into mainstream conservative views. At the same time, white nationalist leaders shifted their focus and resources from protest to electoral politics, and the book traces the evolution of the movement's political forays from David Duke to the American Freedom Party, the Tea Party, and, finally, the emergence of the Alt-Right. Interestingly it also shows that white hostility peaked in 2012—not 2016.

While the book argues that white extremism will have enduring effects on American electoral politics for some time to come, it suggests that the way forward is to refocus the conversation on social solidarity, concluding with ideas for how to build this solidarity.

About Richard C. Fording

Richard C. Fording is Marilyn Williams Elmore and John Durr Elmore Endowed Professor of Political Science at the University of Alabama.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kevin

For some dumb reason, I naively thought that the civil rights movement of the 60’s had effectively put an end to white supremacy in this country. Oh, I knew there was malfeasance here and there, but I seriously thought we, as a society, had evolved beyond blatant, slathered-up, racist, political rhe......more

HARD WHITE details how the mainstreaming of racist beliefs mobilized into the mainstream, particularly through the Tea Party movement that arose in response to the election of Obama, ultimately resulting in Trump and a newly emboldened and virulent prejudiced element. The text is quite dense and aca......more