Father of Racist Ideology: The Social and Political Thought of Count Gobineau

The first general study in English of the French aristocrat Count Gobineau - Joseph Arthur Comte de Gobineau (1816-1882), the 'father of racism' and the most distinguished 19th century proponent of that doctrine. His notorious Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races surpasses in scope and sinister grandeur even that other racist classic Mein Kampf. Gobineau, a complex and enigmatic figure who has in the past been subject to extremes of reverence, denunciation and misrepresentation alike, here receives a more balanced assessment.