Race in Early Modern England - A Documentary Companion

This collection makes available for the first time a rich archive of materials that illuminate the history of racial thought and practices in sixteenth and seventeenth century England. A comprehensive introduction shows how these writings are crucial for understanding the pre-Enlightenment lineages of racial categories.Table of ContentClassical Texts The Bible Medieval Texts Early Modern Texts DictionariesReview Quote"A terrific supplement to research and teaching on race. Assembling a range of disparate and difficult to find materials from early modern English writing and their classical antecedents, this collection will change how we think about early racial conception. It is an indispensable component of any comprehensive library on the history of race and racism." - David Theo Goldberg, Director and Professor, University of California Humanities Research Institute "Recent preferencing of nationalism over pan-Europeanism and the return of religious fundamentalisms, of crusade and jihad, suggest recursion to the premodern. This book, dedicated to early modern England, tests such suggestions to the full; its timeliness can hardly be exaggerated.An astutely edited, capacious anthology." - David Wallace, Judith Rodin Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania "This rich collection changes the conversation about early modern ideas of race. Burton and Loomba's smashing introduction is a model of clarity on a complex topic, and they have intelligently assembled a wide range of primary materials, including a number of compelling and little-known visual images, that reveal the salience and ubiquity of race as an early modern concept. A magnificently useful classroom text, Race in Early Modern England is a state-of-the-art contribution to contemporary scholarship on racial difference." - Jean E. Howard, George Delacorte Professor in the Humanities, Columbia University "Loomba and Burton have given us a rich treasure in this collection oftexts on race in early modern England. Many categories of difference are at play here, and the editors' insightful commentary helps us navigate through thesewide-ranging and unsettling English views about peoples of another religion or ethnicity or appearance. An absorbing book and an essential resource for early modern studies." - Natalie Zemon Davis, Princeton UniversityBiographical NoteJONATHAN BURTON is Associate Professor of English Literature at West Virginia University, USA.ANIA LOOMBA is the Catherine Bryson Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, USA.