Drawing on collaborative research from a distinguished team at Harvard and Manchester universities, The age of Obama asks how two very different societies are responding to the tide of diversity that is being felt around the rich world. Guardian journalist Tom Clark, Robert D. Putnam - best-selling author of Bowling alone - and Manchester's Edward Fieldhouse offer a wonderfully readable account. Like Bowling alone, The age of Obama mixes social scientific rigor with accessible charts and lively arguments. It will be enjoyed by politics, sociology and geography students, as well as by anyone else with an interest in ethnic relations.Injustice, it turns out, still blight lives of many UK and US minorities - particularly African Americans. And there are signs the new diversity strains community life. Yet in both countries, public opinion is running irreversibly in favour of tolerance. That augurs well for the future - and suggests a British Obama cannot be ruled out.

Summary1. Introduction: the diversity revolution2. Two concepts in two countries: race and migration3. Home truths: how minorities live4. The rickety ladder of opportunity: minorities and work5. Mosaic or cracked vase? Diversity and community life6. Distorting mirrors: media framing and political debate7. Tidal generation: politics and deeper currents of public opinion8. Concluding thoughts: making a success of the revolutionBibliographyIndex