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Rating: 
Summary: A BOOK WITH PROFOUND IMPLICATIONS
Review: Black people are bringing home bigger paychecks than ever. They face less overt racism on a day-to-day basis. Everything's copacetic, right? WRONG. This book is so important because it shows why African Americans pass along inequality from generation to generation. Most white people who "make it on their own" it turns out, tend to have a little help from their parents in buying their first house. $10,000, $20,000, or more, this means that they can put more money down, get a lower interst rate, move into a better neighborhood, with better schools, so their kids get better educations and all of the priveleges that access to such schools brings. And it all happens again in the next generation.Shapiro brings this to life by talking to black and white people about how they have made their way in the world. Inherited assets, it turns out, have a lot to do with it. This is a book that will force black and white people alike to think about how racial inequality is passed down from generation to generation. I myself would argue that it makes the case for at least a more serious discussion of reparations in the form of home buying grants or something of that kind, and an INCREASE in the so-called "death tax". Read it and think about it!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent ... but could use some more context
Review: Shapiro writes an analysis of how wealth -- more than income -- shapes residential and economic segregation. He makes a STRONG case that racism shapes decisions of where to buy a home, and shows how inherited wealth (not just post-mortem inheritance, but gifts, loans and other wealth transfers) aids in the process.
BUT he offers little historical context on how we got here. He assumes the reader knows. And while it's quite likely that those who read the book will know, not everyone will. That context is key to understanding Shapiro's ultimate point.
Rating:
Summary: Sobering and Inspiring
Review: This book and its description of the power of transformative assets is must reading for all Americans, espeically those who are descendents of slaves, like myself. If you want the boiled down pop version of this argument, peep Chris Rock's perceptive sketch on how black folks confuse the relationship between income and wealth from his latest HBO special "Never Scared." Highly relevant stuff within these pages.
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