The Heart of Whiteness

“[A] convincing historical study.” - Jenny Bredull, Sexualities

“[T]he book is well-balanced and presents a compelling picture of how white became normal, making readers question and challenge seemingly unquestionable concepts as deep-rooted in our minds as what ‘normal’ means.” - Gomez-Galisteo, NeoAmericanist

“[The book’s] ideas are important. It begins the process of explaining why whites do not see themselves as having a race or their actions as racist, but nonetheless claim the privileges of whiteness.” - Lisa Lindquist Dorr, Journal of American History

“Carter’s arguments are beautifully supported, and even though they are specific to the US modernist period, they provide fresh perspectives to contemporary discussions concerning who qualifies as a so-called ‘normal’ American.” - William Arce, Women's Studies

“In this smart and provocative book, Julian B. Carter argues that the concept of ‘the normal’ in America results from an interlocking though disavowed set of relationships between whiteness and heterosexuality. . . . Carter’s source materials are well chosen and consistently interesting. . . . This is a brilliant book, certain to invigorate our understanding of whiteness and heterosexuality as they presided at the birth of American normality.” - Mason Stokes, American Studies

“Provocative and wonderfully researched and argued. The Heart of Whiteness is an important addition to the literature in queer studies and whiteness studies.” - Michael Bronski, Lambda Book Report

“This complex, richly textured book reaffirms the ongoing value of carefully research, theoretically informed historical scholarship on American whiteness. . . . One hopes (perhaps against hope) that the important ideas contained in this volume will somehow find their way into the hearts and minds of the people who have the most to learn from them.” - Andrew Sargent, College Literature

“The Heart of Whiteness is brilliant; it has the capacity to transform what we thought we knew about both race and sexuality in the twentieth century. Furthermore, in Julian Carter’s hands ‘normal’ takes on a meaning that is so specific, clear, and historically on-target that nobody will be able to see twentieth-century normality in the same way after reading her book.” - Gail Bederman, author of Manliness and Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the United States, 1880–1917