The Inequality of Human Races is a book written by Arthur de Gobineau written before 1853. The book is widely considered to be a foundational text of racial theory and is often cited as a precursor to scientific racism. Gobineau's ideas were controversial even in his own time, and the book was widely criticized for its racialist theories. However, the book also had a significant impact on later thinkers, including Friedrich Nietzsche and Houston Stewart Chamberlain, who would go on to develop their own theories of race and culture. Today, the book is widely regarded as a problematic and deeply flawed work that contributed to the development of racist ideologies.

This work was the first modern attempt to prove that race is the primary force determining world events and history. Working with the limited scientific data available at the time of writing (1853), Arthur de Gobineau divided humans into three major groupings, white, yellow and black. He argues that the cause of the downfall of civilizations is always racial mixing, and that every civilization has either been directly controlled by what he called "Aryans" or has had a significant Aryan element mixed in it. He also argues that climate and environment have no bearing on racial characteristics. This book was a cornerstone work for 20th century racial theory, and is of immense importance for this reason alone. This new edition has been completely reset and contains all the original text.

This work was the first modern attempt to prove that race is the primary force determining world events and history. It argues that the cause of the downfall of civilizations is always racial mixing, and that every civilization has either been directly controlled by what he called "Aryans" or has had a significant Aryan element mixed in it.

"This is the first paperback edition of the only English-language translation of the Haitian scholar Antnor Firmin's The Equality of the Human Races, a foundational text in critical anthropology first published in 1885 when anthropology was just emerging as a specialized field of study. Marginalized for its ""radical"" position that the human races were equal, Firmin's lucid and persuasive treatise was decades ahead of its time. Arguing that the equality of the races could be demonstrated through a positivist scientific approach, Firmin challenged racist writings and the dominant views of the day. Translated by Asselin Charles and framed by Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban's substantial introduction, this rediscovered text is an important contribution to contemporary scholarship in anthropology, pan-African studies, and colonial and postcolonial studies."