One Drop of Blood: The American Misadventure of Race

Scott L. Malcomson examines how a nation founded on principles of freedom and universal humanity has repeatedly created division and constraint through its preoccupation with race. He traces how America, from its beginning, developed a new concept of race invested with unprecedented moral and social meaning. Malcomson shows how successive figures—visionaries, opportunists, self-promoters, and would-be reformers—helped define "black," "white," and "Indian" in opposition to one another, serving the aspirations and anxieties of their respective eras. Those living within these definitions found them limiting and sought escape through separation from other races or by controlling, confining, eliminating, or absorbing them. These efforts have never fully succeeded, yet their consequences persist as Americans continue to enact patterns of separatism in schools, workplaces, and communities. Combining historical research with memoir and reportage, Malcomson's account addresses how understanding this shared American history of race might help move beyond it.