Each defined the concept of "races" in order to answer his particular needs. [Arthur de] Gobineau was an antidemocratic reactionary explaining political revolution by pitting the Aryan race against other, inferior, white-skinned races; [Josiah] Nott, a slaveholding reactionary railing against abolitionists, saw a white race pitted against a black one. Race as color occupied Nott's center stage, while Gobineau kept his eye on Celts, Slavs, and Aryans.

— The History of White People by Nell Irvin Painter (Page 198)