Download or read book Shadowing the White Man's Burden written by Gretchen Murphy and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2010-05-03 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the height of 19th century imperialism, Rudyard Kipling published his poem "The white man's burden." While some of his American readers argued that the poem served as justification for imperialist practices, others saw Kipling's satirical talents at work and read it as condemnation. The author explores this tension embedded in the notion of the white man's burden to create a historical frame for understanding race and literature in America. She maintains that literature symptomized and channeled anxiety about the racial components of the U.S. world mission, while also providing a potentially powerful medium for multiethnic authors interested in redrawing global color lines. She identifies a common theme in the writings of African-, Asian- and Native-American authors who exploited anxiety about race and national identity through narratives about a multiracial U.S. empire.