The White Pedestal: How White Nationalists Use Ancient Greece and Rome to Justify Hate
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Whether you’ve been following Pharos for years or are just visiting for the first time, you won’t want to miss Pharos Director Curtis Dozier’s new book based on his research for this site.
It is difficult to ignore the resurgence of white nationalist movements in the United States, many of which employ symbols and slogans from Greco-Roman antiquity. A long-established neo-Nazi website incorporates an image of the Parthenon into its logo, and rioters wore Spartan helmets in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. These juxtapositions may appear incongruous to people who associate the ancient world with enlightened political ideals and sophisticated philosophical inquiry. But, as Curtis Dozier points out in this thought-provoking book, it’s hard to imagine a historical period better suited to rhetorical use by white nationalists. Indeed, some of the most widely admired voices from ancient literature and philosophy endorsed ideas that modern white supremacists promote, and the social and political realities of the ancient world provide models for political systems that white supremacists would like to establish today.
Part introduction to contemporary white nationalist thought, part exploration of ancient racism and xenophobia, and part intellectual history of the political entanglements of academic study of the past, this book reveals that contemporary white nationalist intellectuals know much more about history than many people assume—and they deploy this knowledge with disturbing success.
Advance Praise for The White Pedestal
“Curtis Dozier masterfully shows not just how the ancient world plays a central role in the fascist imagination, but how it distorts our history to feed a particularly modern disease. The best volume written on the modern far-right’s toxic obsession with our past.” —Shane Burley, author of Why We Fight
“Notoriously drawing on the Greek and Roman past for inspiration, as Dozier powerfully demonstrates, today’s white nationalists turn out to have many unsettling accomplices, including American mainstream culture and classical scholars themselves.” —Denise Eileen McCoskey, author of Race: Antiquity & Its Legacy
“The White Pedestal is important reading—urgent even—for current idealizers of the classical world and for the next generation of young people being encouraged to study Greek, Latin, and the classics across the educational curriculum. Rather than taking a stand of cancellation, Dozier helps us all to move forward with clearer eyes.” —Patrice Rankine, author of Ulysses in Black
“The White Pedestal is a deeply—even if sadly—needed exploration of how racists use the Greek and Roman past to enhance their world view. As we contemplate a period of increased cultural narrowing and a resurgence of hate, Dozier’s work is both a guide and a warning.” —Joel P. Christensen, author of Storylife
“Curtis Dozier unflinchingly examines what most refuse to acknowledge—that ‘classical’ texts depend upon the logics of supremacy.” —Hannah Čulík-Baird, convener of Res Difficiles: Difficult Conversations in Classics end editor of Res Difficiles: The Journal
