Gobineau: Selected Political Writings (Roots of the Right)

Joseph Arthur de Gobineau (1816 - 1882) is widely known as the Father of Racism. He holds a central place in the history of those brands of political thinking which culminated in the excesses of Nazism. These selections from his works illustrate one of the major racist sources of inspiration for the 20th-century devotees of fascist and elitist ideology and provide an essential introduction to the most evil Root of the Right. The treatment centers on those theses of Hum Inequality and Racial Crisis which are fundamental to Gobineau's political and social thinking. The texts illuminate the nature of racism as a mode of thought and reveal those aspects of Gobineau's work which are of the greatest concern to students of history and political theory. The famous ESSAY ON THE INEQUALITY OF THE HUMAN RACES provides the core of the selections, but the editor also present vital, though hitherto neglected, extracts from other sources. Most of the material has been either previously unavailable in English or else, like the ESSAY, long out of print.