Why read Manliness and Civilization?

Book cover of Manliness and Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the United States, 1880-1917

Book description

When former heavyweight champion Jim Jeffries came out of retirement on the fourth of July, 1910 to fight current black heavywight champion Jack Johnson in Reno, Nevada, he boasted that he was doing it "for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a negro". Jeffries,…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Manliness and Civilization as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Erica J. Ryan

Author

Gail Bederman expertly weaves together an analysis of the discourses of manliness and civilization at the turn of the century, highlighting the way ideas about gender and power are constructed with and through ideas about race. Her case study approach really shows how this discourse functioned in multiple ways at the same time, covering Theodore Roosevelt’s hugely impactful connections between race and manliness right alongside Ida B. Wells’ campaign to use civilization discourse against white southerners in a bid to end lynching. These, along with chapters on G Stanley Hall and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, ably demonstrate the way discourses can…

From Erica's list on The best history books on culture’s role in shaping race, class, and gender in modern America.