Separate and Unequal

"As in the first edition, the revised edition of Separate and Unequal illustrates with great detail and clarity the multiple ways in which the federal government proved to be a significant participant in the continued oppression of Black Americans and an active promoter of white supremacy throughout the 20th century. This book significantly advances our understanding of the state, necessitating that we pay attention to the different entities, goals, and consequences of state power. For students interested in race and the state this is a book you must read."--Cathy J. Cohen, University of Chicago
"Desmond King's Separate and Unequal makes a significant contribution to our knowledge of the politics of disparate treatment.... King demonstrates how the federal government colluded in the maintenance of segregated race relations.... One comes away with a knowledge of the extent to which segregation and racism were institutionalized in the federal system."--American Political Science Review
"This is a pioneering book on race and the federal bureaucracy... King's book ploughs new ground, [and] is a bold work. The factual data that the book unearths tell a startling, compelling, and debilitating story."--Journal of American History
"Desmond King has written a stinging account of the relationship between the federal government and the preservation of white supremacy."--American Historical Review
"This book is original, thorough, and significant. Its strengths are numerous. It tackles a subject critically important in the history of American race relations. It sheds important light on current debates about the relationship of the federal government to black America."--Eric Foner, Columbia University
"Drawing on a wealth of archival sources, King shows how the Federal government systematically segregated African Americans in its own operations. The book provides important and original perspectives on the prevalence of racial discrimination within the Federal government from the Progressive Era until the 1960's. In so doing, it causes us to rethink conventional views of the Federal government as a neutral arbiter in race relations."--Margaret Weir, Brookings Institution
"Desmond King is one of a handful of scholars who takes seriously the manner in which the racial divide in the United States has been constitutive of its twentieth-century state and public policy. Separate and Unequal provides an important, overdue, synoptic treatment of blacks in the American regime."--Ira Katznelson, Columbia University
"Focusing on the inequality of federal employment policies from 1933 to the 1950s, this investigation makes an important contribution to the literature on history and African American studies."--Choice
"Lucidly deploying a voluminous range of original archive sources, King vividly demonstrates how segregated practices and assumptions in the wider American society were reflected and replicated in, and thereby reinforced by, the government itself...The intrinsic power of the author's argument is strengthened by the new, rich and diverse primary data he marshals to provide a compelling and stimulating rejoinder to scholars who view the American state as either weak or ineffective in shaping its citizens' welfare. A landmark study."--Robert Singh, Trinity College, University of Dublin
"[A] well written and extremely well-documented volume...Especially informative."--Urban Affairs Review
"King has mined governmental records to yield illuminating data and rich first hand testimony."--Journal of Sourthern History