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Gods of the Upper Air summary
How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century
26 mins
Brief summary
'Gods of the Upper Air' by Charles King is a non-fiction book that tells the stories of the anthropologists who challenged the racial prejudices of their time and revolutionized our understanding of human diversity.
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Gods of the Upper Air
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In the Jim Crow era, society’s deepest prejudices informed policies grounded in pseudoscientific beliefs.
Are you familiar with the American national anthem? If you think about it, “the land of the free and the home of the brave,” only began to ring true after the dissolution of slavery. Indeed, Americans in the post-Reconstruction era took pride in being a society that afforded equality to all people.
Yet the reality of US governance told a different story.
From the 1880s until the 1960s, the United States introduced a system of racial disenfranchisement through new segregation laws that came to be called Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow laws segregated schools, hospitals and other public buildings. They also mandated that people of different races weren’t allowed to be buried beside one another and created racially segregated cities by determining where you were or weren’t allowed to buy property.
And it wasn’t just African Americans that the state was hostile toward. At the turn of the century, Jews, Italians, Poles, Slovaks and other immigrant communities were increasingly seen as tainting the American population. In order to slow the influx of these immigrant populations, in 1924, U.S. Congress passed the Johnson-Reed Act, which, among other regulations, set quotas on how many people from specific nations could immigrate to the United States.
Just like the attitude of white European colonizers administering local natives in Africa, Jim Crow laws and new immigration regulations reflected the general sentiment that Anglo-Saxons were a biologically superior race. However, for some, this assumption called for even further scientific justifications. In the late nineteenth century, the fervent interest in race gave rise to a new social science called anthropology, envisioned as the study of human beings.
Early anthropologists such as Lewis Henry Morgan claimed that global societies fell into a hierarchy of evolutionary development. Morgan and others argued that society progressed from savagery to barbarism and, finally, to civilization. Among other things, this affirmed that the so-called “civilized” society of the United States was superior to the so-called “savage” tribes of Sioux Native Americans that had recently lost their rights as a sovereign state.
Yet while early anthropologists affirmed the pseudoscientific beliefs of white supremacy, the new field also led to another type of research – one that saw all humans as inherently equal. It all started with a German immigrant named Franz Boas.
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What is Gods of the Upper Air about?
Gods of the Upper Air (2019) details the story of how Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, Zora Neale Hurston and other researchers challenged pseudoscientific theories upholding racism and established the modern discipline of cultural anthropology. Tracing the travels, romances and ideas that bound this group together, these blinks recount what became a seismic shift in notions of race, sex and gender identity.
Gods of the Upper Air Review
Gods of the Upper Air (2019) explores the lives and work of a group of innovative thinkers who revolutionized the field of anthropology. Here's why this book is worth reading:
- With its fascinating narratives and meticulous research, the book brings to life the stories of these trailblazing anthropologists, capturing their courage and tenacity.
- Through their groundbreaking ideas and cross-cultural studies, they challenged prevailing beliefs about race, gender, and human nature, forever changing our understanding of the world.
- Interweaving personal stories with historical context, the book offers a captivating exploration of the complex and controversial field of anthropology, making it an engaging and thought-provoking read.
Best quote from Gods of the Upper Air
Race as a principle of political power energized the study of race as a scientific one.
—Charles King
Who should read Gods of the Upper Air?
- Students of anthropology, sociology and gender studies
- Zora Neale Hurston fans
- Americans interested in racial history
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Gods of the Upper Air FAQs
What is the main message of Gods of the Upper Air?
The main message of Gods of the Upper Air is to challenge racial prejudice and understand the power of cultural anthropology.
How long does it take to read Gods of the Upper Air?
The reading time for Gods of the Upper Air varies depending on the reader's speed. However, the Blinkist summary can be read in just 15 minutes.
Is Gods of the Upper Air a good book? Is it worth reading?
Gods of the Upper Air is a thought-provoking and insightful book that sheds light on the importance of cultural diversity. It is definitely worth reading.
Who is the author of Gods of the Upper Air?
The author of Gods of the Upper Air is Charles King.
What to read after Gods of the Upper Air?
If you're wondering what to read next after Gods of the Upper Air, here are some recommendations we suggest:
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