---
product_id: 30110372
title: "Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (National Book Award Winner)"
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---

# 4.8/5 star rating from 12,838 reviews National Book Award Winner Comprehensive 5-part historical timeline Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (National Book Award Winner)

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## Summary

> 📖 Unlock the hidden roots of racism — because knowing history is the first step to change.

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- **What is this?** Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (National Book Award Winner)
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## Key Features

- • **Unfiltered Truth:** Confront uncomfortable realities with a deeply researched, no-holds-barred narrative.
- • **Award-Winning Insight:** Dive into a National Book Award-winning exploration of racist ideas shaping America.
- • **Broad Cultural Impact:** Join 12,000+ readers who’ve transformed their understanding of race and history.
- • **Chronological Mastery:** Navigate 5 detailed historical eras with key figures anchoring each part for clarity.
- • **Thought-Provoking Framework:** Understand racism through the lens of policies, not just prejudice, reshaping your worldview.

## Overview

Stamped from the Beginning is Ibram X. Kendi’s National Book Award-winning definitive history tracing the creation and evolution of racist ideas in America. Through a sweeping five-part narrative anchored by historical figures, it reveals how racist policies—not just hate or ignorance—have driven systemic oppression from ancient times to today. With a 4.8-star rating from over 12,000 readers, this essential read challenges assumptions and offers a transformative framework for understanding race in America.

## Description

Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (National Book Award Winner) [Kendi, Ibram X.] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (National Book Award Winner)

Review: A very painful but highly illuminating must-read on how racism took root and persists in the US - About halfway through reading this book, I realized I was highlighting almost every single page and had to start color-coding my highlights so as to make a little more sense of why certain passages struck me—a visual testimony of how illuminating Stamped from the Beginning is. With a primary focus on racism toward African-Americans and people identified as Black, this book is a thoroughly researched, sweepingly comprehensive survey of racism from its first traceable roots in ancient Greece when Aristotle said Africans had “burnt faces” to the start of the African slave trade in 15th century Europe, to the first recorded slave ship arriving in colonial America in 1619, all the way through the Civil War, the Jim Crow laws, the 1960s Civil Rights movement, and up to the present day. In order to help readers navigate this extensive timeline, author Ibram X. Kendi divides the book into five parts, featuring one historical figure as a sort of tour guide or anchor for each part. Very few individuals or institutions mentioned in this book come off as completely free of racist thinking; even many abolitionists and civil rights activists are revealed to have held racist ideas that contradicted their cause. This made me realize the extent to which racism has ensnared the United States in its pernicious roots. In Stamped from the Beginning, Kendi presents two main ideas about racism that helped me understand its influence and progress over the centuries. First, he explains that “Hate and ignorance have not driven the history of racist ideas in America. Racist policies have driven the history of racist ideas in America.” The author admits, “I was taught the popular folktale of racism: that ignorant and hateful people had produced racist ideas, and that these racist people had instituted racist policies. But when I learned the motives behind the production of many of America’s most influentially racist ideas, it became quite obvious that this folktale, though sensible, was not based on a firm footing of historical evidence.” As Kendi explains further, “Racially discriminatory policies have usually sprung from economic, political, and cultural self-interests, self-interests that are constantly changing.” Now that I understand self-interest—not hate or ignorance—has been the driving factor behind racist policies, I can better understand why racism hasn’t died out with the Emancipation Proclamation or desegregation or any of the Civil Rights Acts passed in this country. Tragically, racism persists and continues to evolve according to the current self-interests of people and institutions in power. It’s why, after slavery was abolished, segregation and the Jim Crow laws rushed in to replace it, and long after segregation has been outlawed, African-Americans continue to be oppressed by disproportionate mass incarceration as well as disadvantaged by fewer, inferior housing and employment opportunities. Second, Kendi points out that racism is not simply a debate between those who support racist ideas and those who oppose racist ideas. Throughout history, three–not two–viewpoints on racism have persisted: “A group we can call segregationists has blamed Black people themselves for the racial disparities. A group we can call antiracists has pointed to racial discrimination. A group we can call assimilationists has tried to argue for both, saying that Black people and racial discrimination were to blame for racial disparities.” As much as I would like to believe I am firmly in the antiracist camp, reading this book made me realize I have held a lot of racist ideas from an assimilationist viewpoint that I need to correct. Kendi gives many examples of well-meaning civil rights activists, including some African-Americans, who upheld assimilationist ideas. Some persisted with these ideas their entire lives, others realized their error and later self-corrected to an antiracist viewpoint, and still others upheld both antiracist and assimilationist ideas, often not realizing the contradiction. Thus, a tragic pattern that has repeated itself throughout American history is the persistence of many assimilationists in seeking to abolish racist policies and ideas with the same flawed strategies that never work. Indeed, the African-American author admits, “Even though I am an African studies historian and have been tutored all my life in egalitarian spaces, I held racist notions of Black inferiority before researching and writing this book.” I think it’s crucially important that Kendi tells readers about his mistaken notions of race—not to make readers feel better about their own ignorance, but to demonstrate how deeply racist ideas have taken root in American culture. Hopefully this admission on the author’s part will ease readers out of their defensive mode and open their minds to the disturbing truth that racism is a lot more pervasive among us Americans than we would like to believe. If you want to understand exactly how racism took root in the United States and why it has persisted through the present day, if you are prepared for a very sobering, very painful, and often highly disturbing look at the many flaws, hypocrisies, and atrocities in the American notions of democracy, exceptionalism, and “liberty and justice for all,” then Stamped from the Beginning is a must-read. Ultimately, what the author conveys with copious examples is that “Black Americans’ history of oppression has made Black opportunities—not Black people—inferior.” An absolutely necessary emendation to the traditionally accepted canon of American history.
Review: A Peoples History of an Idea - This book like the title says is a history of racist ideas in this country. The author does this by following the lives of 5 historical figures in American history. He starts from the beginning of the American colonies when racist ideas about Africans was beginning to be formed in Europe and the American colonies. The author contends that racism was not a result of the slave trade and slavery in Africa but were rather created to justify the treatment of Africans and Native Americans in the American colonies. Through the five parts of the book the reader finds out that while the terminology and basis of the racist beliefs change and modify it is stilled used to justify oppression and exploitation. One thing that I found especially interesting was how the author identified the different parts of the debate on race: Racist, Assimilationist and and Anti-racist. He also points out that these ideas can be held by anyone and often were held and deployed by people who were trying to combat racism. This shows that racist ideas are deeply ingrained in out culture and society among all races and ethnicity and it is by identifying this and the form these ideas take, they can be combated. I found this book especially interesting as it made me examine my own views on race and the inherent racism in my own ideas. What I found most interesting is how racist ideas and tropes are often used in combating racism making their efforts counterproductive. Despite it's size, this book is a fast and easy read and I found myself experiencing a little nostalgia in the last chapters. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in American history or the history of race.

## Features

- The National Book Award winning history of how racist ideas were created, spread, and deeply rooted in American society.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #126,657 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #16 in Black & African American History (Books) #41 in Discrimination & Racism #66 in Black & African American Biographies |
| Customer Reviews | 4.8 out of 5 stars 12,838 Reviews |

## Images

![Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (National Book Award Winner) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61EXLshzVSL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A very painful but highly illuminating must-read on how racism took root and persists in the US
*by A***R on April 26, 2017*

About halfway through reading this book, I realized I was highlighting almost every single page and had to start color-coding my highlights so as to make a little more sense of why certain passages struck me—a visual testimony of how illuminating Stamped from the Beginning is. With a primary focus on racism toward African-Americans and people identified as Black, this book is a thoroughly researched, sweepingly comprehensive survey of racism from its first traceable roots in ancient Greece when Aristotle said Africans had “burnt faces” to the start of the African slave trade in 15th century Europe, to the first recorded slave ship arriving in colonial America in 1619, all the way through the Civil War, the Jim Crow laws, the 1960s Civil Rights movement, and up to the present day. In order to help readers navigate this extensive timeline, author Ibram X. Kendi divides the book into five parts, featuring one historical figure as a sort of tour guide or anchor for each part. Very few individuals or institutions mentioned in this book come off as completely free of racist thinking; even many abolitionists and civil rights activists are revealed to have held racist ideas that contradicted their cause. This made me realize the extent to which racism has ensnared the United States in its pernicious roots. In Stamped from the Beginning, Kendi presents two main ideas about racism that helped me understand its influence and progress over the centuries. First, he explains that “Hate and ignorance have not driven the history of racist ideas in America. Racist policies have driven the history of racist ideas in America.” The author admits, “I was taught the popular folktale of racism: that ignorant and hateful people had produced racist ideas, and that these racist people had instituted racist policies. But when I learned the motives behind the production of many of America’s most influentially racist ideas, it became quite obvious that this folktale, though sensible, was not based on a firm footing of historical evidence.” As Kendi explains further, “Racially discriminatory policies have usually sprung from economic, political, and cultural self-interests, self-interests that are constantly changing.” Now that I understand self-interest—not hate or ignorance—has been the driving factor behind racist policies, I can better understand why racism hasn’t died out with the Emancipation Proclamation or desegregation or any of the Civil Rights Acts passed in this country. Tragically, racism persists and continues to evolve according to the current self-interests of people and institutions in power. It’s why, after slavery was abolished, segregation and the Jim Crow laws rushed in to replace it, and long after segregation has been outlawed, African-Americans continue to be oppressed by disproportionate mass incarceration as well as disadvantaged by fewer, inferior housing and employment opportunities. Second, Kendi points out that racism is not simply a debate between those who support racist ideas and those who oppose racist ideas. Throughout history, three–not two–viewpoints on racism have persisted: “A group we can call segregationists has blamed Black people themselves for the racial disparities. A group we can call antiracists has pointed to racial discrimination. A group we can call assimilationists has tried to argue for both, saying that Black people and racial discrimination were to blame for racial disparities.” As much as I would like to believe I am firmly in the antiracist camp, reading this book made me realize I have held a lot of racist ideas from an assimilationist viewpoint that I need to correct. Kendi gives many examples of well-meaning civil rights activists, including some African-Americans, who upheld assimilationist ideas. Some persisted with these ideas their entire lives, others realized their error and later self-corrected to an antiracist viewpoint, and still others upheld both antiracist and assimilationist ideas, often not realizing the contradiction. Thus, a tragic pattern that has repeated itself throughout American history is the persistence of many assimilationists in seeking to abolish racist policies and ideas with the same flawed strategies that never work. Indeed, the African-American author admits, “Even though I am an African studies historian and have been tutored all my life in egalitarian spaces, I held racist notions of Black inferiority before researching and writing this book.” I think it’s crucially important that Kendi tells readers about his mistaken notions of race—not to make readers feel better about their own ignorance, but to demonstrate how deeply racist ideas have taken root in American culture. Hopefully this admission on the author’s part will ease readers out of their defensive mode and open their minds to the disturbing truth that racism is a lot more pervasive among us Americans than we would like to believe. If you want to understand exactly how racism took root in the United States and why it has persisted through the present day, if you are prepared for a very sobering, very painful, and often highly disturbing look at the many flaws, hypocrisies, and atrocities in the American notions of democracy, exceptionalism, and “liberty and justice for all,” then Stamped from the Beginning is a must-read. Ultimately, what the author conveys with copious examples is that “Black Americans’ history of oppression has made Black opportunities—not Black people—inferior.” An absolutely necessary emendation to the traditionally accepted canon of American history.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Peoples History of an Idea
*by L***R on June 13, 2018*

This book like the title says is a history of racist ideas in this country. The author does this by following the lives of 5 historical figures in American history. He starts from the beginning of the American colonies when racist ideas about Africans was beginning to be formed in Europe and the American colonies. The author contends that racism was not a result of the slave trade and slavery in Africa but were rather created to justify the treatment of Africans and Native Americans in the American colonies. Through the five parts of the book the reader finds out that while the terminology and basis of the racist beliefs change and modify it is stilled used to justify oppression and exploitation. One thing that I found especially interesting was how the author identified the different parts of the debate on race: Racist, Assimilationist and and Anti-racist. He also points out that these ideas can be held by anyone and often were held and deployed by people who were trying to combat racism. This shows that racist ideas are deeply ingrained in out culture and society among all races and ethnicity and it is by identifying this and the form these ideas take, they can be combated. I found this book especially interesting as it made me examine my own views on race and the inherent racism in my own ideas. What I found most interesting is how racist ideas and tropes are often used in combating racism making their efforts counterproductive. Despite it's size, this book is a fast and easy read and I found myself experiencing a little nostalgia in the last chapters. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in American history or the history of race.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Readable, informative and intellectually sobering
*by N***Z on August 13, 2017*

I have not reviewed many books on Amazon, but want to recommend Stamped from the Beginning rigorously and sincerely. At first, the scope of this work seems unimaginable, but then Mr. Kendi simply starts at the beginning and steadily traces the entire history of anti-black racist ideas from the start of the African slave trade in Portugal through the election of Barack Obama and subsequent projections of a "post-racial" America. A few things become increasingly clear: the perpetrators of these racist ideas cannot be educated away from them because THEY ARE AWARE, that espousing the virtues of "personal responsibility" is as old a tactic as slavery itself, and that the white perpetrators of racist ideas will only fight them when convinced it is in their self-interest. I learned an immense amount from Mr. Kendi's book not just about my country's own history, but its momentum. The multiple biographical accounts in this book serve to illustrate the insidiousness of racist ideas--many of America's most celebrated civil rights figures sometimes dealt in assimilationist or segregationist theory themselves. This work also emotionally portrays the disappointment of many antiracist thinkers when their efforts to educate the country on the effects of racial discrimination are heard and then summarily ignored. But this book also left me hopeful, not because "we've made so much progress despite having a long way to go" but because by illuminating the pervasiveness and detailed evolution of racist ideas, Mr. Kendi charts a path forward. I feel, empowered with historical context, ready to convince members of my own community that ending racial discrimination is not just a profound revolutionary responsibility, but in all of our self interest.

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*Last updated: 2026-02-23*