The presence of racism in our past may be widely acknowledged, but such ideas are often identified solely with colonialist and fascist groups, especially the Nazis. Neil Macmaster has sought to present a true picture in this book, beginning his examination in the 1870's - a threshold in European thought, when old hatreds began to transform into distinctly different modern forms - and continuing, through the Nazis, right up until the modern day.
The subject matter is narrower than the broad title suggests, simply because there are many types of racism and it would take a far larger volume to cover them all. Instead, the text concentrates on just two - anti-black and anti-Semitic - partly because they are the dominant racisms of the last 130 years, and partly because MacMaster feels that they have been mishandled. While schools of study exist on both anti-black and anti-Semitic feeling, few have considered both together in order to compare differing, or similar, natures. Macmaster feels that a more subtle and comparative approach is needed - understanding racism as white and black or Jew and non-Jew simply isn't accurate - and Racism in Europe has been written to deliver an integrated understanding.
Consequently, the text opens with a discussion of the changes in racism c.1870, before switching to a dual analysis which first discusses anti-black racism, and then anti-Semitic racism, for a given period, before moving on to the next one. The three periods are perfectly straightforward - 1870-1914, 1914-1945, 1945-2000 - and work effectively thanks to explanatory linking sections. This might seem like an unusual method for an author who aims to provide an integrated study, but MacMaster's cross-referencing and his excellent conclusion ties everything together.
These divisions are supported by a clear and logical structure which makes full use of sub-headings; the result is a carefully guided read with easy access for students. Forthcoming topics are sign-posted earlier in the text, while the reasons for a certain subject's inclusion - and exclusion - are explained. In his chapter on anti-Semitism in the Nazi era MacMaster explains that he's jettisoned the views of other commentators in order to adequately present his own interpretation, explicitly making the reader aware that other ideas do exist. Such an approach is wholly commendable.
Racism in Europe's historical material forms Parts 1 and 2 (1870-1914 and 1914-1945); these are generally broad chapters, dealing with overarching themes such as the spread of colonial racism into Europe, rather than specific events and cases. However, MacMaster does illustrate some points by focusing on particular countries and events. On occasion the subject matter narrows to include specific cultural examples, such as an illuminating account of ethnological fairs which used live Africans as exhibits, before widening again; these case-studies are usually fascinating, and you may wish for more of them. The result is a continuously interesting work that anchors its larger themes firmly in reality, but one that will disappoint readers after more detail and less theory.
Crucially, MacMaster avoids either moralising or preaching in these early chapters (although his tone alters to one of warning in Part 3), and he simply explains the mechanisms and processes which created modern racism. What he certainly doesn't seek to do is either offer an apology or justify the past, approaches that can easily damage this important and emotive topic. Equally, MacMaster's text challenges the traditional - and if we are to believe the author, incorrect - notions of racism in a subtle manner. At the end of Part 1 he suggests that the ideological origins of 1930's German anti-Semitism lie more in France than in the volkish states. Rather than explaining how most people would think the opposite, he simply takes it for granted that the reader already does, and presents his own ideas as an alternative.
