Archive of The Invention of the White Race, Volume 1

Books that outline the function of race as a form of capitalist domination, from across 50 years of publishing at Verso: all 40% off until the end of September.

Featuring Priya Gopal, Walter Rodney, Stella Dadzie and more.

Theodore W. Allen draws lessons from Irish history, comparing British rule in Ireland with the “white” oppression of Native Americans and African Americans, in this excerpt from The Invention of the White Race, Volume 1, a groundbreaking analysis of the birth of racism in America.

An essay by W.E.B. Du Bois on the imperial roots of American racism. 

The police have always been used as a tool for the social control of minority populations and to protect the power and property of the elite. A reading list that puts the call for the abolishment of the police in historical context.

Books that challenge the notion of empire and offer a history of anti-colonial, anti-racist struggle.

A reading list inspired by Black radicalism, featuring Julius Scott's The Common Wind as well as Angela Davis, Manning Marable, and W.E.B. Du Bois.

Walter Rodney's groundbreaking work, alongside key artists, writers and activists of the Black radical tradition.

How should we think about the relationship between race and class on the left? As Christina Heatherton reminds us in this series of reflections on David Roediger's new book Class, Race, and Marxism the point is not to be right, but to get free.