How Race Is Made

“An ambitious and original experiment in the way the senses determined the ideology of race in southern American history over the last two centuries.” — Senses & Society

“Smith’s research is rich and his prose accessible, making [How Race is Made] an ideal primer on the socio-anthropological underpinnings of race.” — Publishers Weekly

“Sensitive to black challenges, Smith’s book is foremost a well-researched, frank, and revealing analysis of white racism. Only by coming to terms with the gut-level impact of sounds, smells, tastes, and textures — and by understanding the conceptual frameworks in which they were experienced — can [historians] begin to explain the power and persistence of something as impervious to reason as Americans' historical concepts of race.” — Journal of American History

“Smith has written a short, thought provoking book on the role of the senses — or more specifically, white sensory stereotypes — in constructing race in the United States. . . . Smith’s history provokes reflection not only upon how people in the past sensed their worlds, but how our own socially constructed senses shape what we write and think today.” — American Historical Review

“A slim volume that cuts a very wide path in the literature and opens several imaginative and analytical possibilities. . . . Merits serious consideration.” — Journal of the Early Republic

“Focuses analytically and critically on questions virtually ignored by previous scholars . . . reexamines long-familiar sources through new lenses . . . nudges us to rethink basic components of what we already thought we knew.” — South Carolina Historical Magazine

“This strongly written volume reminds even experienced readers of the pernicious power of racism. It is a strong challenge that echoes in the current shaping of stereotypes.” — Historian

“[A] tight, well-argued book.” — Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

“Original and provocative. . . . [A] path-breaking book.” — Alabama Review

“Smith’s provocative book explores a two-hundred year history. . . . Convincing and original.” — Journal of Social History