The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

    • 3.8 • 230 Ratings
    • $13.99

Publisher Description

New York Times Bestseller • Notable Book of the Year • Editors' Choice Selection

One of Bill Gates’ “Amazing Books” of the Year

One of Publishers Weekly’s 10 Best Books of the Year

Longlisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction

An NPR Best Book of the Year

Winner of the Hillman Prize for Nonfiction

Gold Winner • California Book Award (Nonfiction)

Finalist • Los Angeles Times Book Prize (History)

Finalist • Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize

This “powerful and disturbing history” exposes how American governments deliberately imposed racial segregation on metropolitan areas nationwide (New York Times Book Review).

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.

GENRE
Nonfiction
RELEASED
2017
May 2
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
368
Pages
PUBLISHER
Liveright
SELLER
W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
SIZE
24.5
MB

Customer Reviews

Richard Bakare ,

Government Mandated Discrimination

Richard Rothstein has put together a damning account of the federal, state, and private laws & policies that deepened the segregation in neighborhoods across America. Often these mandates created segregation where does none before. Even more disturbing is that many of these efforts to separate populations happened during wartime when we were supposed to be coming together as one country. Imagine how disillusioned Black veterans where when they came back from fighting for their country only to be denied home ownership.

It’s no wonder then that the far right doesn’t want anyone reading books like this one. It can’t be read without the anger swelling to a level where nothing can put out the fire but complete and immediate reparations and accountability. Changes that would require some to say goodbye to unearned privileges and wealth. Rather than do that, we know they prefer to dig deeper and let the poison of racism continue to stealthily eat away at the soul of the nation.

Those who argue against economic repair are also likely the beneficiaries of equity gains during a real estate value climb during the pandemic unparalleled in history. They also won’t acknowledge that those left out of those gains are the descendants of citizens discriminated against by LAW and not just sentiment. Rothstein finds a balance in the end that offers inclusive and restorative measures that can bring marginalized minority groups into their equitable positions while also desegregating neighborhoods.

We're All Just Leaves ,

I grew up oblivious

Awful revelations of injurious, de jure segregation and , thankfully, a few suggested remedies.

mark0196 ,

Must read

A well-written, compelling, account. The book is meticulously argued and supported, while not resorting to less accessible legal verbiage.

Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law
2023
Toxic Communities Toxic Communities
2014
White Space, Black Hood White Space, Black Hood
2021
The South Side The South Side
2016
American Poison American Poison
2020
From Here to Equality, Second Edition From Here to Equality, Second Edition
2022
Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law
2023
All Else Equal All Else Equal
2013
Stamped from the Beginning Stamped from the Beginning
2016
The Sum of Us The Sum of Us
2021
White Rage White Rage
2016
Begin Again Begin Again
2020
The New Jim Crow The New Jim Crow
2020
The Fire Next Time The Fire Next Time
1992