The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy

“An essential journey into the origins of America’s current identity crisis, told through the voices of people working across lines of race to create a truer vision of our shared history, and our future.”–Heather McGhee, author of The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together“Blistering, bracing and brave … This book couldn’t be more timely in the courageous effort to close the gap between what we as a nation say we are and what we truly have been.”–Michael Eric Dyson, author of Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America“Full of urgency and insight, Jones’s book is a compelling and necessary undertaking… . Much is to be gained from Jones’s deep, comparative immersion in local efforts to ameliorate the wounds of the past… . The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy offers uncommon and moving entry into some of the most vexing challenges of our era.”–Ned Blackhawk “The New York Times”“In this elegantly crafted book, Robert P. Jones unearths harrowing and long forgotten stories of the racial violence inscribed on our nation’s past. Yet it is not a book without hope, for only by confronting our collective history can we begin to heal our nation’s wounds.” –Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Professor of History and Gender Studies, Calvin University; author of Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation “Revelatory… . A searing, stirring outline of the historical and contemporary significance of white Christian nationalism.”– “Kirkus Reviews (starred review)”“Robert P. Jones has deepened our understanding of how Americans think about religion, justice and oppression… . This eloquent volume, by turns personal and analytical, calls us to face up to the past in order to build a more just and democratic future.”–E. J. Dionne Jr., senior fellow, the Brookings Institution; author of Our Divided Political Heart and co-author of 100% Democracy“Robert P. Jones is an extraordinary moral force in this country. The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy is his latest effort to help the nation imagine itself apart from the distorting effects of racism and the violent genocide of Indigenous people at its root. This book is the latest in his own personal journey as a white southerner from Mississippi, and I am thankful that he has shared it with all of us.”–Eddie S. Glaude Jr., James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor, Princeton University, and author of Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own

Robert P. Jones is the president and founder of Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and a leading scholar and commentator on religion and politics. Jones writes regularly on politics, culture, and religion for The Atlantic, TIME, and Religion News Service. He is frequently featured in major national media, such as MSNBC, CNN, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and others. He holds a PhD in religion from Emory University and a MDiv from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity, which won a 2021 American Book Award, and The End of White Christian America, which won the 2019 Grawemeyer Award in Religion.