The History of White People by Nell Irvin PainterRead about the other entries on the list.
If you've ever heard the argument that "the Irish were slaves, too," or had to endure complaints of "historical inaccuracy" over the inclusion of a nonwhite person in a work of fiction, this is the book you're going to want to read. In The History of White People, Nell Irvin Painter traces the history of racial concepts from ancient tribalism to modern-day whiteness, which came to be defined through exclusion in the 19th and 20th centuries.
--Marshal Zeringue