Richard Nixon and the Rise of Affirmative Action - (American Intellectual Culture) Annotated by Kevin Yuill (Hardcover)

About the Book

In this enlightening and original new work, Kevin Yuill combines extensive archival research with a careful analysis of the intellectual climate of the era to examine not only the conditions that made Nixon's affirmative action policy decisions possible in the 1970s but also w...

Book Synopsis

In this enlightening and original new work, Kevin Yuill combines extensive archival research with a careful analysis of the intellectual climate of the era to examine not only the conditions that made Nixon's affirmative action policy decisions possible in the 1970s but also what motivated Nixon to act in the way that he did. He argues that in order to fully understand why Nixon embraced affirmative action, one must fully take into account the shifting context of American liberalism in the 1970s. In particular, Yuill contends that although government-enforced affirmative action did not fit into the postwar, growth-oriented liberalism, it emerged as an important regulatory policy blueprint in an era increasingly characterized by diminished horizons for social policy.

Review Quotes

Richard Nixon and the Rise of Affirmative Action is a well-written, scrupulously researched book that makes an important contribution to our understanding of civil rights in the post-1968 era. While book shelves bulge with works on Richard Nixon and civil rights, this book is unique in extending Nixon's importance to today's social and political scene. As Yuill makes abundantly clear, Nixon's shadow still hangs over America, for better or worse.

An important book on racial politics and affirmative action during the Nixon administration.

In [Richard Nixon and the Rise of Affirmative Action] . . . Yuill enhances our understanding of this period and reminds us that there were other paths the nation might have taken, and may still take, in the struggle to end racism.

Kevin L. Yuill's new book, Richard Nixon and the Rise of Affirmative Action, is an important contribution to the scholarly literature on race equality and affirmative action. Yuill provides the most comprehensive and thorough discussion available to date of how the Nixon administration became a pioneer of positive discrimination. Demonstrating a mastery of relevant primary and secondary sources, Yuill addresses the unexpected significance of the Nixon presidency both for contemporary affirmative action policy and for identity politics in the U.S., concluding that the evolution of affirmative action has undermined progress toward race equality in America. Yuill's thought provoking and engaged book will be of wide interest to students and scholars of U.S. politics.

Kevin Yuill's new book, Richard Nixon and the Rise of Affirmative Action, is a tour de force of research, interpretation, and perspective, offering a tough, unblinking assessment of a highly controversial public policy by a highly controversial president. It will help guide scholarly and political arguments on affirmative action for some time to come.

Yuill's book contains top-down analysis based on extensive research. . . . This is a book many professors will like and many others will shake their head over.

About the Author

Kevin Yuill is senior lecturer in American studies at Sunderland University.