Race in American Literature and Culture : Cambridge University Press : 9781108487399 : 1108487394 : 16 Jun 2022 : "Race is central to American history. It is, or should be, impossible to understand the United States without attending carefully to how race has been defined and deployed at every stage of the nation's history. From the 1790 Naturalization Act, which limited naturalization to "free white persons," to the Trump presidency, race has been at the center of American cultural life - both shaping and shaped by economic practices and priorities; influencing where people live and what opportunities they are likely to encounter; serving as a key variable in local, state, and national elections; serving as the ominous subtext of the legal system and policing methods; and guiding government policies and social practices. Although our educational system has almost miraculously managed to isolate and contain much of U.S. racial history into discrete and settled textbook chapters, it is