The Rise and Fall of the Caucasian Race A Political History of Racial Identity [Hardcover]

The term “Caucasian” is a curious invention of the modern age. Originating in 1795, the word identifies both the peoples of the Caucasus Mountains region as well as those thought to be “Caucasian”. Bruce Baum explores the history of the term and the category of the “Caucasian race” more broadly in the light of the changing politics of racial theory and notions of racial identity. With a comprehensive sweep that encompasses the understanding of race even before the use of the term “Caucasian,” Baum traces the major trends in scientific and intellectual understandings of “race” from the Middle Ages to the present day.

Baum’s conclusions make an unprecedented attempt to separate modern science and politics from a long history of racial classification. He offers significant insights into our understanding of race and how the “Caucasian race” has been authoritatively invented, embraced, displaced, and recovered throughout our history.

“Add[s] a needed dimension to the study of race in political science that I hope scholars beyond the field of theory will take to heart.”
-Perspectives on Politics

“An indispensable book.The Rise and Fall of the Caucasian Racetakes the study of whiteness to a new level both historically and theoretically. No previous study of the familiar racial category-‘white’-has attained such global breadth and analytical depth. It remedies a significant gap in the social scientific study of race, providing an intellectual history of whiteness that is both erudite and accessible.”
-Howard Winant,author ofThe New Politics of Race: Globalism, Difference, Justice