Review: _White Trash:_ a look at class and money in the United States.

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A recent book that I read was _White Trash,_ that takes a hard look at the topic of class in the United States. In childhood, I was taught that our country was founded on the ideal that everyone was equal and that with hard work, we too could achieve the American dream -- a job with dignity, a home, and a better living for our children than what we had. That at least was the lure. But with the election of Donald Trump, I discovered that wasn't the truth. Racism, poverty, lack of opportunity and the other social ills that have boiled under the surface have come to the surface. Now we are looking at a billionaire president-to-be that rode to office on the backs of the working class, who gleefully cheered him on with his inappropriate comments about minorities and women. Where in the hell did we go wrong? Turns out that the problem started long before the Revolutionary War, and has its roots in how the English upper classes looked at those below them in status. To the wealthy merchants and aristocracy, poverty and lack of opportunity for work was due to the laziness of the poor. It was in their bones and breeding, and the best thing to do was to move them on to somewhere else. For the seventeenth century Great Britain, that 'elsewhere' were their new colonies in America. Never mind that there were the Native populations there, they really didn't count. While the aristocrats bought up land grants, the poor were sent on to the colonies as labour. Prisoners had the option to emigrate or hang, and the indigent were lured by the dream of being able to own land, and all they had to do was put themselves in indentured servitude -- namely selling themselves into slavery in exchange for their passage to the colonies. It seems that no one considered that this slavery could last for years. Life wasn't easy for these new immigrants -- the landlords that were there dished out harsh treatment, and clearing and improving the new land wasn't easy. Most of those who came were young men, and between abusive treatment and lousy living conditions. survival wasn't that likely. They were the base of the underclass, poorly educated, and not very skilled, they formed the base of people who settled the frontiers, and lived and died in squalor. By the Revolutionary War, there was a permanent underclass, and the wealthy, and not much in between. A lucky few managed to rise to the artisan and merchant classes, and there was plenty of fodder for the newly created army and navy in the United States. And always, that alluring frontier over the Appalachian mountains... The history of the poor has pretty much been skipped by most historians. This anonymous, shifting mass of people was considered to be lazy by nature, not very bright, inclined to heavy drinking and producing plenty of offspring to continue their class. They were there to be used, used up and then discarded. Occasionally the government took notice and tried to improve the health or conditions of the chronic poor, but more often than not, they were ignored. Nancy Isenberg has done a monumental amount of research in this book, creating a view of a part of our country that most of us try to forget about, that is, until it comes and smacks us in the face. We tend to think of ourselves as successful, and doing well, without realizing that the system is rigged against us. This book shocked me, and made me discover that most of the United States live on the edge of poverty, what with crushing debt and mortgages looming over our heads, and little in the way of job security for most of us. Modern Media has taken on the poor white trash of the country as a rich vein of entertainment, from Duck Dynasty and Moonshiners, and ultimately to the embarassement of science deniers, flat-earthers, and Sarah Palin. I felt both angry and depressed by the end of this book. It made me realize what a huge problem our country is facing, and the next four years are going to be interesting, as the Chinese say. While Isenberg mostly focouses on white poverty, it's not limited to just cauvasians -- there's plenty of marginal living in our country. But I do recommend this book for anyone interested in the topic of class and poverty. In any case, it should open up your eyes to the larger part of America that we would rather not think about. Five stars overall. White Trash:The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America Nancy Isenberg 2016; Viking, Random House Books ISBN 978-1-1016-0848-7