An urgent and daring examination of how American racism has broken the
country's social compact, eroded America's common goods, and damaged the
lives of every American--and a heartfelt look at how these deep wounds
might begin to heal.
Compared to other industrialized nations, the United States is losing
ground across nearly every indicator of social health. Its race problem,
argues Eduardo Porter, is largely to blame.
In American Poison, the New York Times veteran shows how racial
animus has stunted the development of nearly every institution crucial
for a healthy society, including organized labor, public education, and
the social safety net. The consequences are profound and are only
growing graver with time. Leading us through history and across
America--from FDR's New Deal through Bill Clinton's welfare reform to
Donald Trump's retrograde and divisive policies--Porter pieces together
how racial hostility has blocked American social cohesion at every turn,
producing a nation that fails not only its black and brown citizens but
white Americans as well.
American Poison is at once a broad, rigorous argument, and a profound
cri de coeur. Even as it uncovers our most tenacious national pathology,
it points the way toward hope, illuminating the ways in which, as the
nation becomes increasingly diverse, it may well be possible to
construct a new understanding of racial identity--and a more cohesive
society on top of it.
