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bookwrapt's review against another edition
5.0
This book is incredible. I've always felt an inherent discomfort around the idea of "normalcy," the privilege it conferred and took away solely based on the what felt like the subjective reasoning of peers. This work put into words far better than I ever could the deeper origins of that discomfort. In Carter's own words, "..'normality' has a long history as a covertly political phenomenon. Despite its superficial neutrality, the concept has worked to justify and further white racial dominance." Carter does an amazing job guiding the reader from the sexual frigidity of the Victorians and the Gilded Age into the interwar years where the conflation of whiteness, heterosexuality as the only true expression of love and normalcy came together as a foundation for bolstering white superiority, while eliding race from the conversation completely, leaving whiteness as innocent and blameless in its evolutionary inheritance.
My greatest sadness is how academic the writing is (out of necessity) but that will surely limit its readership. It was slow going but well worth the work for the many "aha" moments that punctuated my journey through this work.
My greatest sadness is how academic the writing is (out of necessity) but that will surely limit its readership. It was slow going but well worth the work for the many "aha" moments that punctuated my journey through this work.
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