American Poison

How Racial Hostility Destroyed Our Promise

By: Eduardo Porter

Narrated by: Anthony Rey Perez, Eduardo Porter

Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

A sweeping examination of how American racism has broken the country's social compact, eroded America's common goods, and damaged the lives of every American - and a heartfelt look at how these deep wounds might begin to heal.

Compared to other industrialized nations, the United States is losing ground across nearly every indicator of social health. Its race problem, argues Eduardo Porter, is largely to blame.

In American Poison, the New York Times veteran shows how racial animus has stunted the development of nearly every institution crucial for a healthy society, including organized labor, public education, and the social safety net. The consequences are profound and are only growing graver with time. Leading us through history and across America - from FDR's New Deal through Bill Clinton's welfare reform to Donald Trump's retrograde and divisive policies - Porter pieces together how racial hostility has blocked American social cohesion at every turn, producing a nation that fails not only its Black and brown citizens but White Americans as well.

American Poison is at once a broad, rigorous argument, and a profound cri de coeur. Even as it uncovers our most tenacious national pathology, it points the way toward hope, illuminating the ways in which, as the nation becomes increasingly diverse, it may well be possible to construct a new understanding of racial identity - and a more cohesive society on top of it.

©2020 Eduardo Porter (P)2020 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"With a scintillating rhythm and pointed language, the author exposes all the ways in which racism has infected everything from unions to welfare to education and immigration policy.... The potency of Porter’s argument is bolstered by his impressive source list and straightforward prose. American Poison is a work for our times from a writer who has found his subject." (Colleen Mondor, Booklist)

"An anguished and incisive treatise on how racism has contributed to 21st century America’s economic and social decline.... [Porter’s] cogent presentation succeeds in making the problem of racial animus relevant to all Americans. Progressive readers will concur with this bracing sociological study." (Publishers Weekly)

"[Porter] clearly delineates a wide variety of conundrums that face American citizens, exacerbating divisions and hurting everyone.... [He] capably pulls the strands together to demonstrate one of the narrative's most important ideas: how the U.S. lacks a true safety net.... Another solid addition to the necessarily growing literature on one of America's most intractable issues." (Kirkus)

Painful, but necessary!

This book brings cold hard facts about how racism and classism are destroying the promise and potential of the USA. These evils are a rot on our country.

Eye-opening

As a person of color, this book's statements were a bit hard to hear, emblazoned in stark truth. Most of the ideas that the author states are (informally) well known common knowledge in most minority communities: it is jarring to read them as researched studies. That said, if I found this
difficult to process emotionally, I can only imagine that some or most of this book will be outright rejected by white readers. However, please listen with an open mind, as everything is thoroughly researched. There is no "forget about it" -- the past history of race relations very much shaped the present, and could control the future, if we let it.

How Racial segregation has been kept alive through abjucation.

I was born and spent 18 years of my life in the south, Alabama and Virginia. I believe my parents and grand parents were bigots. I broke the bigot chain. I try to not see color and I judge people by their character. I’m anti-racist but I don’t participate in protests. However after reading American Poison and reading how blacks have been marginalized through national, state and local legislation I was incensed by the unfairness that has been unleashed on the black community. This is a must read book. It is captivating and interesting read. American Poison has given me new insights into racism in America.

Important Truths To Be Heard Here

The Narration was OK but the historic stories that were exposed in this fine book are incredible! I highly recommend this book to any and every one sincerely looking for truth about this national suicidal issue with the United States and not some false myth of our moral greatness!