Gilded Age elites defined white civilization as the triumphant achievement of exceptional people hewing to a relational ethic of strict self-discipline for the common good. This title demonstrates that between 1880 and 1940, cultural discourses of whiteness and heterosexuality fused to form a new concept of the 'normal' American.
""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"
