George Fredrickson is a Stanford history professor who has studied racism (particularly of the white supremacist variety)
for many years. In this Short History, he attempts a synthesis and comparison of much of what he has learned from his own work and that of others. An initial problem in tracing the history of racism is in deciding what exactly counts as racism -- for example, is the ancient prejudice against foreigners (barbarians) a kind of racism or simply xenophobia or ethnocentrism? Fredrickson excludes ancient examples on the ground that members of disfavored groups could (more or less) overcome these prejudices by adopting (assimilating) the dominant culture. One's status as Other was neither immutable nor (necessarily) heritable. An essential element of racism, in Fredrickson's view, is the belief that certain
differences are tied to race, that those differences cannot be overcome by human action, and that those differences have implications for how society ought to be structured.
Definition in hand, Fredrickson provides a fascinating overview of how religious prejudice (against Jews and heathens) gradually
transformed (through different paths) into racial prejudice, and how racial prejudice became official policy in the American South of the Jim Crow era, Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa. (European attitudes toward Native Americans are briefly explored, but then dropped without much development, and the eventual subjugation of Native Americans by the federal government is ignored completely, for reasons which are not apparent to me.) While pointing out significant differences between these three instances of racism, Fredrickson also draws some interesting parallels and contrasts. The role of international events and economic developments in first creating and then destroying these overtly racist regimes is explored in enough detail to make me want to read more.
Fredrickson provides the reader with a lot to think about, including the role of racism today, and whether biological racism is now being transformed into a kind of culturism that makes certain aspects of culture stand in for race. This is a book of big thoughts (as one might expect from a short history), and fulfills an important role in setting out a grand theory that others can respond to. The writing is clear, concise and readily intelligible to non-scholars. Fredrickson does not purport to provide any cures or even suggestions for eliminating current strains of this old disease, but like all good historians he identifies the symptoms and the conditions in which the disease flourishes.