Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Illustrations ix
4. Preface xiii
5. Acknowledgments xvii
6. Introduction: Playing the Race Card 1
7. 1 The American Melodramatic Mode 10
8. 2 “A Wonderful ‘Leaping’ Fish”: Varieties of Uncle torn 45
9. 3 Anti-Tom and The Birth of a Nation 96
10. 4 Posing as Black, Passing as White: The Melos of Black and White Melodrama in the Jazz Age 136
11. 5 Rewriting the Plantation Legend: Scarlett Totes a Weary Load" 187
12. 6 Home Sweet Africa: Alex Haley's and TV's Roots 220
13. 7 Trials of Black and White: California v. Powell and The People v. Orenthal James Simpson 252
14. Conclusion: Our Melodramatic Racial Fix 296
15. Notes 311
16. Bibliography 369
17. Index 385