The Coloration of Regulation: A Forgotten Historical past of How Our Authorities Segregated America

New York Instances Bestseller • Notable E book of the 12 months • Editors' Selection Choice

One in all Invoice Gates’ “Wonderful Books” of the 12 months

One in all Publishers Weekly’s 10 Greatest Books of the 12 months

Longlisted for the Nationwide E book Award for Nonfiction

An NPR Greatest E book of the 12 months

Winner of the Hillman Prize for Nonfiction

Gold Winner • California E book Award (Nonfiction)

Finalist • Los Angeles Instances E book Prize (Historical past)

Finalist • Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize

This “highly effective and disturbing historical past” exposes how American governments intentionally imposed racial segregation on metropolitan areas nationwide (New York Instances E book Assessment).

Extensively heralded as a “masterful” (Washington Publish) and “important” (Slate) historical past of the trendy American metropolis, Richard Rothstein’s The Coloration of Regulation gives “probably the most forceful argument ever revealed on how federal, state, and native governments gave rise to and strengthened neighborhood segregation” (William Julius Wilson). Exploding the parable of de facto segregation arising from non-public prejudice or the unintended penalties of financial forces, Rothstein describes how the American authorities systematically imposed residential segregation: with undisguised racial zoning; public housing that purposefully segregated beforehand combined communities; subsidies for builders to create whites-only suburbs; tax exemptions for establishments that enforced segregation; and assist for violent resistance to African People in white neighborhoods. A groundbreaking, “just about indispensable” examine that has already reworked our understanding of twentieth-century city historical past (Chicago Day by day Observer), The Coloration of Regulation forces us to face the duty to treatment our unconstitutional previous.