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The Invisible Line: A Secret History of Race in America

by Daniel J. Sharfstein

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Race, identity, and changing boundaries

$23.16 USD
$36.19 USD $23.16 USD
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Paperback New English

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Awards & Recognition

  • Critical praise

    Praise from The New York Times Book Review

    Attributed praise describes the book as an astonishingly detailed rendering of the variety and complexity of rac...

AlbakiReads Editorial

Race, identity, and changing boundaries

Daniel J. Sharfstein traces three families across generations, from eighteenth-century South Carolina to twentieth-century Washington, D.C. Their changing identification—from people of color to white—anchors a broader history of how racial categories were understood and experienced in the United States. Family histories and secrets provide the structure for examining shifts in the meanings of “Black” and “white,” linking private lives to a changing national culture. The book’s scope makes it a historical account of race and identity told through particular family trajectories, rather than a survey organized solely around laws or institutions.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in U.S. history and the history of race and identity.
  • Those drawn to multigenerational family histories as a way to explore broader social change.

Themes

Race and racial classificationFamily history and secretsChanging meanings of Black and whiteU.S. social and cultural history

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

"An astonishingly detailed rendering of the variety and complexity of racial experience in an evolving national culture."
-The New York Times Book Review

In the Obama era, as Americans confront the enduring significance of race and heritage, this multigenerational account of family secrets promises to spark debate across the country. Daniel J. Sharfstein's sweeping history moves from eighteenth-century South Carolina to twentieth-century Washington, D.C., unraveling the stories of three families who represent the complexity of race in America. Identifying first as people of color and later as whites, the families provide a lens through which to examine how people thought about and experienced race and how, for them and America, the very meanings of black and white changed. The Invisible Line cuts through centuries of myth to transform the way we see ourselves.

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