Ben Waber reviewed White Freedom by Tyler Stovall
A Compelling Thesis with Ineffective Execution
3 stars
Stovall opens with a compelling thesis - that the meaning of "freedom" in the US has always meant "freedom for white people." Unfortunately, he mostly fails to put together a coherent, data-backed case in this book (to be clear, I think the case is there, just not here). There's a weird digression on piracy that adds little to the discussion, and there are examinations of the freedom concept in other parts of the world that he brings up that directly undercut his argument. Part of this is because Stovall insists on shoehorning in a significant helping of French and global history here, which while occasionally helpful for context often just muddies the waters given the inherently socially constructed nature of "race." There are also a strange lack of analysis of the term "white" itself and how that concept changed over time in the US, and some straight up fallacies (e.g. …
Stovall opens with a compelling thesis - that the meaning of "freedom" in the US has always meant "freedom for white people." Unfortunately, he mostly fails to put together a coherent, data-backed case in this book (to be clear, I think the case is there, just not here). There's a weird digression on piracy that adds little to the discussion, and there are examinations of the freedom concept in other parts of the world that he brings up that directly undercut his argument. Part of this is because Stovall insists on shoehorning in a significant helping of French and global history here, which while occasionally helpful for context often just muddies the waters given the inherently socially constructed nature of "race." There are also a strange lack of analysis of the term "white" itself and how that concept changed over time in the US, and some straight up fallacies (e.g. the year 1919 was not the high water mark for lynchings in the US). If you want a book on this topic I recommend "Freedom's Dominion" by Cowie instead