cover image White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America

White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America

Nancy Isenberg, read by Kirsten Potter. Tantor Audio, , unabridged, 12 CDs, 15.5 hrs., $44.99 ISBN 978-1-5159-0544-8

Isenberg tackles a topic rarely addressed by mainstream American writing on race and class as she skillfully demonstrates that “class defines how real people live.” Isenberg highlights how social power brokers (including politicians, lawmakers, psychiatrists, and sociologists, writers of newspaper and literature) play a role in defining and reinforcing class in America. Actress Potter reads this complicated text with the solemnity and respect Isenberg’s prose deserves. In particular, Potter proves a master of emphasis, moving through each sentence and balancing the need to move forward with the need to vocally capture the sentence’s meaning. Her voice has a low but soft quality to it that makes it enjoyable to listen to, while her ability to strike meaning into each sentence keeps listeners engaged through this fascinating history. A Viking hardcover. (June)