White Trash History

Nancy Isenberg, a sociologist and historian at Louisiana State University, wrote this somewhat overwrought history of the great working class or poorer class in America.  I think it does fill an important gap in political thinking:  we assume that bigotry and oppression is characteristic of black Americans, but that same hatred and exploitation certainly extends to the white lowest classes.  Ab ovo, this class has been used, cheated, and dismissed as ignorant proles who, nonetheless, managed to build America and create the wealth enjoyed be the more educated and wealthier whites.  Unfortunately, she displays enormous disrespect for Benjamin Franklin as well as scant understanding of his enlightened attitude and incredible contributions to this nation.  I learned from Isenberg that there is a robust lexicon for terms of little endearment for the lower classes, the white trash throughout history, such as lubbers and crackers, rednecks and clay-eaters (a puzzle over this one), and my favorite: mudsills.  Interesting in that a mudsill has a truly nasty ring to it, but in truth, a mudsill is a type of foundation holding up the rest of the edifice.  White Trash: the 400-Year Untold History of Class in America, Nancy Isenberg, Viking, 2016.