The Color of Law
A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
$24.99
- Paperback
368 pages
- Release Date
1 June 2018
Summary
Widely heralded as a “masterful” and “essential” 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”. 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, The Color of Law forces us to face the obligation to remedy our unconstitutional past.
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781631494536 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1631494538 |
| Author: | Richard Rothstein |
| Publisher: | W W Norton & Co Ltd |
| Imprint: | Liveright Publishing Corporation |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 368 |
| Release Date: | 1 June 2018 |
| Weight: | 325g |
| Dimensions: | 25mm x 140mm x 211mm |
Critics Review
“Virtually indispensable… I can only implore anyone interested in understanding the depth of the problem to read this necessary book.”
“Essential… Rothstein persuasivelydebunks many contemporary myths about racial discrimination. Only whenAmericans 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 andmoral obligations. For the rest of us, still trying to work past 40 years ofmisinformation, there might not be a better place to start than Rothstein’sbook.” – Rachel M. Cohen - Slate
“A powerful and disturbing history of residential segregation in America… One of the great strengths of Rothstein’s account is the sheer weight of evidence he marshals… While the road forward is far from clear, there is no better history of this troubled journey than The Color of Law.” – David Oshinsky - The New York Times Book Review
“Masterful… The Rothstein bookgathers meticulous research showing how governments at all levels long employedracially discriminatory policies to deny blacks the opportunity to live inneighborhoods with jobs, good schools and upward mobility.” – Jared Bernstein - The Washington Post
“There’s a really important book that came out… called The Color of Law. It explains how a lot of the racial segregation taking place in our neighborhoods that we maybe treat today as de facto actually happened as the result of very specific and very racist policy choices, going back at least to the F.D.R. Administration. You would think it would make sense if resources went into creating that racial inequity that resources would go into reversing it.” – Pete Buttigieg
Richard Rothstein
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.
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