University of Virginia Press / “Making the World Over”
“MAKING THE WORLD OVER: CONFRONTING RACISM, MISOGYNY AND XENOPHOBIA IN U.S. HISTORY” by R. Marie Griffith (University of Virginia Press, 208 pages, $30).
While the title of R. Marie Griffith’s new collection of essays, “Making the World Over: Confronting Racism, Misogyny and Xenophobia in U.S. History,” may be an intimidating mouthful, the book lives up to its ambitious promise: It absolutely confronts.
Chattanooga-born Griffith, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis who specializes in the history of American religion, mines the depths of America’s past, arguing that our beloved national timeline is intertwined with – and often defined by – past injustices toward women, people of color and immigrants, sins that continue to haunt us today.
The book’s title pays homage to the author James Baldwin, who said, “We made the world we’re living in, and we have to make it over,” suggesting that recalibration and reform are necessary to overcome the nation’s most deep-seated challenges.
Americans, like any proud people, have a complicated relationship with history. It’s a struggle that has most recently manifested itself through fierce debates over whether to honor defenders of the former Confederacy or allow the teaching of critical race theory in public schools. On one hand, we are a nation that defeated the Nazis and liberated concentration camps; we spearheaded COVID-19 vaccination research; and we have welcomed millions of immigrants to our shores. But we are also a people who tolerated slavery for centuries, built a nation that kept women from voting until the 20th century and elected an executive to office who intentionally removed immigrant children from the care of their parents.