The Color of Politics - by Michael Goldfield (Paperback)

About the Book

In a penetrating new examination of the American political scene, social scientist Michael Goldfield traces our current political morass to its roots in the racism of the labor movement after World War II. A well-documented and completely accessible look at race in the history of American politics, Goldfield's book is an important explanation of our nation's increasing polarization as well as a constructive blueprint for the future.

Book Synopsis

A magisterial review of the role of racism in the history of American politics

"Goldfield's sweeping account recasts the familiar turning points in our past to show the singular and destructive impact of racism, and its crippling consequences for the development of class-based politics. This bold book will take its place as one of the truly important statements about American political history." --Frances Fox Piven, co-author of Regulating the Poor and The Breaking of the American Social Compact

There is no better way to understand the roots of racial oppression in America and the periodic mass struggles against it than to read Michael Goldfield's classic The Color of Politics: Race and the Mainsprings of American Politics.

How has race determined the course of American history? From the Revolution to the New Deal, from the Civil War to World War II, race has been at the center of virtually every national turning point. In this brilliant book, Goldfield doggedly documents the persistence of racism in the American nation and the heroic massive struggles against it from colonial times to the present, offering a penetrating guide to how we can achieve a more just society.

Review Quotes

Goldfield (labor studies, Wayne State Univ.) has written a radical analysis of American political development emphasizing the relationship between race and class. He gives particular attention to five historic "critical periods or turning points": the Colonial era, the Revolutionary War and the development of the Constitution, the Civil War and Reconstruction, the Populist movement, and the Depression and New Deal era. These relatively brief periods are said to have had a major impact on the shape of politics during the longer periods in between them. organized labor to unionize Southern workers successfully during the last of these critical periods and the continuing political consequences of that failure are among the more interesting parts of the book....

[...] The focused examination of the role of race in shaping a broad range of American movements is enlightening. . . the importance of the subject speaks for itself.

An involving account of how a social system of racial subordination was perpetuated during eight watershed periods of our history.

About the Author

Michael Goldfield teaches at the College of Urban Labor and Metropolitan Affairs at Wayne State University in Detroit.