The Burden of White Supremacy

“[A] wide-ranging and exceptionally well-researched volume that makes a major contribution to diplomatic history.” — The Canadian Historical Review

“I highly recommend this book for historians attempting global or transnational projects as an exemplary display of this framework drawing upon scrupulous archival research in service of a persuasive and ambitious argument.” — American Historical Review

“Accretes a persuasive argument, challenging several recent works depicting a coherent political identity of whiteness in settler colonial societies in the Pacific.”—Diplomatic History

“One of the most insightful surveys on the global repercussions of exclusions available. . . . Essential reading for scholars and students of empire, migration, diplomacy, and race.”—Britain and the World

“Redirects our thinking about mobility, globalism, and anti-Asian rhetoric at the turn of the twentieth century. . . . Provides a strong comparative history without making blanket statements.”—Journal of American History

“Lucidly written and cogently argued, The Burden of White Supremacy charts new terrains in U.S. immigration and diplomatic history and will be an important read for scholars of transnational and global history.”—Pacific Historical Review

“[Atkinson] mines parliamentary debates from Ottawa to Canberra and Washington. . . . Along the way he unearths some rich archival finds.”—Australian Journal of Politics and History

“The Burden of White Supremacy is a very well researched, lucidly written, and important work of scholarship that promises to play a significant role in advancing the emerging trend of exploring the intersection between immigration politics and diplomacy. It helps consolidate and enriches the literature on the 'white Pacific,' which is characterized by racialized settler-colonialism and interimperial interaction and competition. And, perhaps most importantly, it situates the United States’ story inside a broader Anglophone frame.” — Paul Kramer, Vanderbilt University

“The Burden of White Supremacy is a remarkable piece of scholarship, as gracefully written as it is deeply researched and cogently argued. In exploring the anti-globalizing politics of whiteness, David Atkinson seamlessly weaves together several major interpretive threads — settler colonialism, American foreign relations, trans-imperial politics, race relations, immigration, and ethnicity — to create an original perspective that complicates and refines the transnational turn in historiography.” — Andrew Preston, Cambridge University