Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality

"An important and necessary book." — The Washington Post

It is now more than three decades since the historic Supreme Court decision on desegregation, Brown v. Board of Education. Thomas Sowell takes a tough, factual look at what has actually happened over these decades—as distinguished from the hopes with which they began or the rhetoric with which they continue. Who has gained and who has lost? Which of the assumptions behind the civil rights revolution have stood the test of time and which have proven to be mistaken or even catastrophic to those who were supposed to be helped?

"A brutally frank, perceptive and important contribution to the national debate over the means to achieve equality and social justice for minorities and women." —William Julius Wilson, The New York Times

"Sowell has forced civil rights advocates to take a hard look at what has, and has not, been accomplished in the three decades since the struggle for racial equality began." — New Perspectives , U.S. Commission on Civil Rights

"Sowell . . . packs a great deal of wisdom into this slim volume." — Choice