Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This book purports to be a history of white trash in America. It is not. It is a series of recounting of what others have said about the lower white classes over the past 400 years. In most cases the author’s summarizations are a simple assertions of her opinion. I enjoyed the first chapters about the settlement and development of white America as Isenberg cuts through the myths. After the revolution she mainly reverts to tracing the trashy elements of prominent politicians. As she follows the title, Isenberg focuses on white trash. There is virtually nothing about Native Americans and their current plight. There is also very little about blacks other than to point out that white trash people like to look down on black people. My low opinion of this book came into focus when Isenberg misrepresents Thomas Sowell’s book “Black Rednecks”. She claims that Sowell blames ALL current black problems on their adoption of the life style of white trash while he ignores the history of black slavery. It is as though she only read the title of the book. And, she makes the point that he can’t be trusted anyway because he is conservative. The book is 55% text, 35% references and 10% index. The “Epilog” is a mishmash of generalizations of Isenberg’s earlier generalizations. In the end all I got was: White trash exists in America; white trash was here from the beginning of white history in America.