Racism without Racists

Each edition of Bonilla-Silva's now classic Racism without Racists has brought with it updates that underline its contemporary relevance. This fourth edition is no different: it takes a sharply critical look at Obama's reelection, and is updated wherever possible with new statistics. However, what makes this edition especially useful is an additional chapter, 'The New Racism: The U.S. Racial Structure since the 1960s.' The preface notes that this is because Racism without Racists sometimes functions as the only book on race in many college classrooms. In this new chapter, Bonilla-Silva (Texas A&M) traces the legacy of the US past into the present, exploring institutions that have helped perpetuate racial inequality and segregation in housing, education, political life, the prison system, and other areas. The author also provides a survey of various forms of contemporary economic inequality, social segmentation, and control. While no single book is likely to include enough relevant material about race, Bonilla-Silva's attempt comes very close. Displaying the author's trademark sense of humor and unflinching critique of the ideology and discourse that continue to fuel racial inequality today, this edition will be satisfying to newcomers as well to those who have already used this book for years. Summing Up: Essential. All levels/libraries. CHOICE We expect racists to be closely associated with gun racks in pickups, shirts cut off at the shoulder, and scowls, but in fact many whites in contemporary society have learned to mask their prejudice by responding to racially-charged questions and situations in veiled language. Bonilla-Silva updates this fourth edition with more examples and further exploration of what passes as normal. He examines what he calls 'the strange enigma of race in contemporary America,' and looks at the reasons why several generations of racists have prospered. He looks into the racial structure in the United States since the 1960s, central frames of color-blind racism, how people make disparaging remarks about race without sounding racist, the subtleties of racial stories, the significance of white segregation, white racial progressiveness, black color-blindness, the future of racial stratification, the enchantment of color blindness since President Obama's election, and exposes the irrevocable certainty of white color-blindness. Book News, Inc. As the 'color-blind,' 'post-racial' consensus hardens, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva remains one of the few voices courageous enough to tell the unpalatable truth: that a black man in the White House does not make the United States any less a house divided. Updated to include a discussion of the significance of Obama's first term and 2012 reelection, this fourth edition of Bonilla-Silva's now-classic Racism without Racists documents in remorseless (and often hilarious) detail the white evasions that enable white denial of the reality of ongoing illicit structural racial advantage. -- Charles W. Mills, Professor, CUNY Graduate Center