David Rhodes reviews Orlando Reade’s What in Me is Dark, which traces how revolutionaries from Jefferson to Malcolm X and Castro read Milton’s Paradise Lost, from Blake to the Mardi Gras krewes.
David Rhodes examines how Christian stories, including the Curse of Ham, ‘whiteness’ and ‘Christian slavery’, justified slavery and racism. He also notes the Church of England’s report on its slavery profits. A reply by Dominic...
David Rhodes argues that the idea of race arose in the 17th and 18th centuries to justify slavery, with ‘scientific’ racism following. He answers common objections and discusses reparations and institutional racism.
David Rhodes disputes the claim that selfish ‘human nature’ explains social ills, arguing that it is a cultural idea serving capitalism and that humans are basically social, cooperative beings.
David Rhodes disputes the claim that religion arose to explain what people could not understand, arguing that the idea of spirit must come first and may stem from recognising that a person is more than...
