For much of Western history, “freedom” has only meant “white freedom.” That’s the central argument of historian Tyler Stovall’s sweeping new book, White Freedom: The Racial History of an Idea.

Today, Thursday host Allen Ruff sits down with Tyler Stovall to discuss his new book and role of race, racism, and white identity in Western notions of “freedom” and the history of liberal democracy.

Tyler Stovall is a professor of history and dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Fordham University. He is the author of ten books and numerous articles in the field of modern French history, with a specialization in transnational history, labor, colonialism, and race.

His publications include Transnational France: The Modern History of a Universal Nation (Routledge, 2015), Paris and the Spirit of 1919: Consumer Struggles, Transnationalism, and Revolution (Cambridge University Press, 2012), and most recently White Freedom: The Racial History of an Idea (Princeton University Press, 2021).