The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
Richard Rothstein
(Author)
Description
Widely heralded as a "masterful" (Washington Post) and "essential" (Slate) history of the modern American metropolis, Richard Rothstein's The Color of Law offers "the most forceful argument ever published on how federal, state, and local governments gave rise to and reinforced neighborhood segregation" (William Julius Wilson). Exploding the myth of de facto segregation arising from private prejudice or the unintended consequences of economic forces, Rothstein describes how the American government systematically imposed residential segregation: with undisguised racial zoning; public housing that purposefully segregated previously mixed communities; subsidies for builders to create whites-only suburbs; tax exemptions for institutions that enforced segregation; and support for violent resistance to African Americans in white neighborhoods. A groundbreaking, "virtually indispensable" study that has already transformed our understanding of twentieth-century urban history (Chicago Daily Observer), The Color of Law forces us to face the obligation to remedy our unconstitutional past.Product Details
Price
$17.95
$16.69
Publisher
Liveright Publishing Corporation
Publish Date
May 01, 2018
Pages
368
Dimensions
5.2 X 8.1 X 1.1 inches | 0.7 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9781631494536
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Richard Rothstein, the author of The Color of Law and father to co-author Leah Rothstein, has written many books and articles on educational policy and racial inequality. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Reviews
Essential... Rothstein persuasively debunks many contemporary myths about racial discrimination.... Only when Americans learn a common--and accurate--history of our nation's racial divisions, he contends, will we then be able to consider steps to fulfill our legal and moral obligations. For the rest of us, still trying to work past 40 years of misinformation, there might not be a better place to start than Rothstein's book.--Rachel M. Cohen, Slate
Masterful... The Rothstein book gathers meticulous research showing how governments at all levels long employed racially discriminatory policies to deny blacks the opportunity to live in neighborhoods with jobs, good schools and upward mobility.--Jared Bernstein, Washington Post
Rothstein's comprehensive and engrossing book reveals just how the U.S. arrived at the 'systematic racial segregation we find in metropolitan areas today, ' focusing in particular on the role of government.... This compassionate and scholarly diagnosis of past policies and prescription for our current racial maladies shines a bright light on some shadowy spaces.--Publishers Weekly [starred review]
Virtually indispensable... I can only implore anyone interested in understanding the depth of the problem to read this necessary book.--Don Rose, Chicago Daily Observer
Masterful... The Rothstein book gathers meticulous research showing how governments at all levels long employed racially discriminatory policies to deny blacks the opportunity to live in neighborhoods with jobs, good schools and upward mobility.--Jared Bernstein, Washington Post
Rothstein's comprehensive and engrossing book reveals just how the U.S. arrived at the 'systematic racial segregation we find in metropolitan areas today, ' focusing in particular on the role of government.... This compassionate and scholarly diagnosis of past policies and prescription for our current racial maladies shines a bright light on some shadowy spaces.--Publishers Weekly [starred review]
Virtually indispensable... I can only implore anyone interested in understanding the depth of the problem to read this necessary book.--Don Rose, Chicago Daily Observer
