National Book Award
This New York Times Bestseller and National Book Award nominee reveals the shocking truth: American segregation wasn’t an accident—our government deliberately created it through decades of discriminatory policy. A groundbreaking work that transforms how you see your own neighborhood and our shared obligation to justice.
$17.95
This New York Times Bestseller and National Book Award nominee has transformed how we understand American history. If you’ve ever wondered how our neighborhoods came to look the way they do, this is the book that finally tells the truth.
Richard Rothstein’s groundbreaking work explodes a comfortable myth: that residential segregation just happened naturally, through personal choices and market forces. Instead, he reveals something far more disturbing and urgent—our federal, state, and local governments deliberately created segregated communities through policy after policy, decade after decade.
From undisguised racial zoning to whites-only suburban subsidies, from purposefully segregated public housing to tax breaks for discriminatory institutions, Rothstein meticulously documents the architecture of American apartheid. This isn’t ancient history—these policies shaped the neighborhoods we live in today, the schools our children attend, the wealth gaps that persist.
Critics have called it “masterful” (Washington Post), “essential” (Slate), and “virtually indispensable” (Chicago Daily Observer). It’s been recognized as a New York Times Notable Book and earned a spot among Bill Gates’ “Amazing Books” of the year. More importantly, it’s a book that changes how you see your own street, your own city.
For readers passionate about civil rights, urban history, or understanding the roots of inequality in America, The Color of Law is required reading. It’s the kind of book that stays with you long after you’ve turned the final page—because once you understand how we got here, you can’t look away from our obligation to make it right.
A masterful work.
Essential reading.
Virtually indispensable.
Rothstein has presented what I consider to be the most forceful argument ever published on how federal, state, and local governments gave rise to and reinforced neighborhood segregation.
A powerful and disturbing history of residential segregation in America...Rothstein has written a history that's as sobering as it is revelatory.
Rothstein's book is a must-read, a carefully researched and documented account of how government at all levels defied the Constitution for a century by enacting policies that kept blacks and whites apart.
A brilliant book...Rothstein has given us a powerful, incontrovertible argument for why the government should take action to undo the damage it has wrought.
Compelling and comprehensive...Rothstein's argument is more than convincing, and the book should be required reading for anyone interested in the history of race relations in the United States.
Rothstein's book is an important corrective to the dominant narrative that residential segregation was an accident or the result of private discrimination.
Rothstein's book is a vital contribution to the ongoing conversation about race in America.
| Weight | 0.72 lbs |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 5.50 × 1.00 × 8.30 in |
| Fiction Type | |
| Book Author | |
| Subject | 20th Century, Civil Rights, Discrimination, History, Political Science, Social Science, United States |
| Accolade | National Book Award, New York Times Bestseller, New York Times Notable Book |
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