When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America

When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America

by Ira Katznelson
When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America

When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America

by Ira Katznelson

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Overview

The groundbreaking, “provocative” (New York Times Book Review) work that exposed the racially discriminatory precursors of affirmative action, now updated with a new introduction.

With this explosive analysis, Ira Katznelson fundamentally recast our understanding of twentieth-century American history, demonstrating that the key programs passed during the New Deal and Fair Deal eras were not, as we are so often told, fundamentally equitable or impartial, but discriminatory in the way they deliberately excluded African Americans from benefits. In fact, Katznelson writes, the gap between black and white Americans actually widened following this period, owing, in no small part, to the segregationist designs of southern Democrats. Now featuring a new introduction that situates this saga within the wider context of twentieth- and twenty-first-century history, When Affirmative Action Was White remains, tragically, as salient as ever, providing both a “painful understanding of how politics and race intersect” (Henry Louis Gates Jr.) and a broad justification for continuing affirmative action programs.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781324051084
Publisher: Liveright Publishing Corporation
Publication date: 01/31/2023
Pages: 272
Sales rank: 159,403
Product dimensions: 5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

About The Author
Ira Katznelson is Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History at Columbia University and Deputy Director of Columbia World Projects. A former president of the American Political Science Association, he is the author of many celebrated books, including Fear Itself, winner of the Bancroft Prize in History.

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Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Katznelson’s explosive analysis provides us with a new and painful understanding of how politics and race intersect.

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