American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding and important book
Review: This is the most important book explaining the causes of African-American disadvantage in the U.S. today. Packed with data and argumentation, it documents the devastating impact of residential segregation on African-American socioeconomic prospects. One of the best features of the book is the way it subsumes other prominant explanations of African-American disadvantage--for example, William J. Wilson's spatial-mismatch hypothesis, and "culture of poverty"/"black cultural pathology" theories--within its theoretical framework.

Rating:
Summary: Lucy Aitkens
Review: This remains, without question, one of the most excellent and insightful assessments of race in America. Whether you are a US citizen or an international visitor to the US this book is fundmental to understanding the hidden dimensions of ongoing racial division. Read it and pass it on in the hope that people will recognise the irrefutable evidence of racial segregation offered by Massey and Denton.

Rating:
Summary: A book well-worth reading
Review: Though I can't say for certain, the earlier book reviewer listed here may not be doing justice to what is a complex and sophisticated sociolgical analysis of race and class in the U.S. This book raises interesting and important issues that are salient to political/social discourse in America for years to come. If just for these reasons alone, this book is worth reading.