Still a House Divided: Race and Politics in Obama's America(Princeton Studies in American Politics)

About the Book

Why have American policies failed to reduce the racial inequalities still pervasive throughout the nation? Has President Barack Obama defined new political approaches to race that might spur unity and progress? Still a House Divided examines the enduring divisions of American racial politics and how these conflicts have been shaped by distinct political alliances and their competing race policies. Combining deep historical knowledge with a detailed exploration of such issues as housing, employment, criminal justice, multiracial census categories, immigration, voting in majority-minority districts, and school vouchers, Desmond King and Rogers Smith assess the significance of President Obama's election to the White House and the prospects for achieving constructive racial policies for America's future. Offering a fresh perspective on the networks of governing institutions, political groups, and political actors that influence the structure of American racial politics, King and Smith identify three distinct periods of opposing racial policy coalitions in American history.The authors investigate how today's alliances pit color-blind and race-conscious approaches against one another, contributing to political polarization and distorted policymaking. Contending that President Obama has so far inadequately confronted partisan divisions over race, the authors call for all sides to recognize the need for a balance of policy measures if America is to ever cease being a nation divided. Presenting a powerful account of American political alliances and their contending racial agendas, Still a House Divided sheds light on a policy path vital to the country's future.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures and Tables vii Acknowledgments ix PART ONE: Obama's Inheritance CHAPTER 1 That They May All Be One America as a House Divided 3 PART TWO: The Making and Unmaking of Racial Hierarchies CHAPTER 2 "That is the last speech he will ever make" The Antebellum Racial Alliances 35 CHAPTER 3 "We of the North were thoroughly wrong" How Racial Alliances Mobilized Ideas and Law 62 PART THREE: The Trajectory of Racial Alliances CHAPTER 4 "This backdrop of entrenched inequality" Affirmative Action in Work 93 CHAPTER 5 To "affi rmatively further fair housing" Enduring Racial Inequalities in American Homes and Mortgages 137 CHAPTER 6 "To Elect One of Their Own" Racial Alliances and Majority-Minority Districts 168 CHAPTER 7 "Our goal is to have one classification-American" Vouchers for Schools and the Multiracial Census 192 CHAPTER 8 "We can take the people out of the slums, but we cannot take the slums out of the people" How Today's Racial Alliances Shape Laws on Crime and Immigration 215 PART FOUR: America's Inheritance CHAPTER 9 Prospects of the House Divided 253 Notes 293 Index 349

About the Author :

Desmond S. King is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of American Government at the University of Oxford. His many books include The Liberty of Strangers: Making the American Nation. Rogers M. Smith is the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. His many books include Stories of Peoplehood.

Review :
One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2012 "[King and Smith] accurately survey the history and the evolution of American thinking on race."--Richard D. Kahlenberg, New Republic "Still a House Divided is quite an achievement... This is an outstanding work."--Choice "Essential reading for scholars of race, politics and policy. It provides a rich and textured analysis that is accessible and theoretically driven... The individual sections are master classes in each policy era and will help guide individual scholars with interests in those eras. With that, the book is an instant classic by two scholars who routinely produce work of this quality."--Mark Sawyer, Ethnic and Racial Studies "Hopefully, there will be an intellectually synergistic effect from the publication of Still a House Divided. As American politics scholars in these camps move forward, they might be able to see some working in the middle and refine their scholarship."--Katherine Tate, Political Science Quarterly