This text on controversial American social issues covers topics like: integration and civil rights; President Clinton's race initiative; poverty; education; the environment; democratic participation; disability rights; and corporate welfare.

Part 1 Integration; Chapter 1 Civil Rights, Now and Then, Julian Bond; Chapter 2 Wake Up, Jared Taylor! America is a Democracy Now!, Howard Winant; Chapter 3 Digging Out of the White Trap, Marian (Meek) Groot, Paul Marcus; Chapter 4 Response, Chip Berlet, Surina Khan; Chapter 5 Race and Space, John a. powell; Chapter 6 Telling History on the Landscape, James W. Loewen; Chapter 7 Don't Know Much About History.... Quiz, James W. Loewen; Chapter 8 Bilingual Education, Bebe Moore Campbell; Part 2 Symposium; Chapter 9 By the Color of Our Skin: The Illusion of Integration and the Reality of Race, Leonard Steinhorn, Barbara Diggs-Brown; Part 3 Commentaries; Chapter 10 The Politics of Equality, Jerome Scott, Walda Katz-Fishman; Chapter 11 Equality Versus Integration, Herbert J. Gans; Chapter 12 Viable Integration Must Reject the Ideology of Assimilationism, John O. Calmore; Chapter 13 A Wake-Up Call for Liberals, Richard D. Kahlenberg; Chapter 14 Now We Are Engaged in a Great Civil War, Testing Whether That Nation, Or Any Nation So Conceived and So Dedicated, Can Long Endure, Howard Winant; Chapter 15 The Morally Lazy White Middle Class, Robert Jensen; Chapter 16 Today's Integration Challenge, Angela E. Oh; Chapter 17 Half Full? Half Empty?, James W. Loewen; Chapter 18 Needed: An Antiwhite Movement, Noel Ignatiev; Chapter 19 Is Integration Possible? Of Course..., Florence Wagman Roisman; Chapter 20 What Is the Question? Integration or Defeat of Racism?, James Early; Chapter 21 Education and Incentives to Actualize Integration, Don DeMarco; Chapter 22 Should Racial Integration Be Pursued As the Only Goal?, Joe Feagin, Yvonne Combs; Chapter 23 Progress in Integration Has Been Made, George C. Galster; Chapter 24 Unillusioned, S.M. Miller; Chapter 25 Keeping the Dream, William L. Taylor; Chapter 26 No One Even Knows What Integration Is, John Woodford; Chapter 27 We Aspire to Integration and Practice Pluralism, Frank H. Wu; Chapter 28 Integration: The Long Hard Road to the Right Destination, Paul L. Wachtel; Chapter 29 The Politics of Perception, Ty dePass; Chapter 30 Response to Is Integration Possible? Symposium, Leonard Steinhorn; Part 2a Poverty; Chapter 31 Economic Growth and Poverty: Lessons from the 1980s and 1990s, Jared Bernstein; Chapter 32 Welfare Reform and Racial/Ethnic Minorities: The Questions to Ask, Steve Savner; Chapter 33 The Outcomes of Welfare Reform for Women, Barbara Gault, Annisah Um'rani; Chapter 34 America's Fifth Child: It's Time To End Child Poverty in America, Marian Wright Edelman; Chapter 35 Wealth, Success, and Poverty in Indian Country, D. Bambi Kraus; Chapter 36 Race and Poverty in the Rural South, Margaret Walsh, Cynthia M. Duncan; Chapter 37 Poverty, Racial Discrimination, and the Family Farm, Stephen Carpenter; Part 3a Education; Chapter 38 The Growing Education Gap, Kati Haycock; Part 6 Symposium; Chapter 39 A Case Could Be Made on Either Side, Phyllis Hart, Joyce Germaine Watts; Chapter 40 Forced Racial Integration Has Produced Poor Results, Lyman Ho; Chapter 41 Upgrade Education in Schools Serving Poor and Minority Children, Kati Haycock; Chapter 42 Integration Is Not Cultural Assimilation, john a. powell; Chapter 43 All Students Are Not Equal, Sheryl Denbo, Byron Williams; Chapter 44 Separation, Then Integration, Marcelitte Failia; Part 7 Symposium; Chapter 45 The Standards Movement: Another Warning, John Cawthorne; Chapter 46 The Standards Movement in Education: A Part of Systemic Reform, Peter Negroni; Chapter 47 Standards or Standardization?, William Ayers; Chapter 48 Without Good Assessment, Standards Will Fail, Monty Neill; Chapter 49 High-Stakes Testing: Potential Consequences for Students of Color, English-Language Learners, and Students with Disabilities, Jay P. Heubert; Chapter 50 The Education Vision: A Third Tier, S.M. Miller; Part 4 Democratic Participation; Chapter 51 Why Not Democracy?, David Kairys; Chapter 52 New Means for Political Empowerment: Proportional Voting, Douglas J. Amy, Fred McBride, Robert Richie; Chapter 53 Race, Poverty, and the Wealth Primary, Jamin B. Raskin; Part 9 Commentaries; Chapter 54 Operating Most Effectively Under the Current System, Ellen Malcolm; Chapter 55 We've Closed Down; Chapter 56 Not the Rich, More Than the Poor: Poverty, Race, and Campaign Finance Reform, John C. Bonifaz; Chapter 57 I Am a Product of The Voting Rights Act!, Cynthia A. McKinney; Part 5 Enviromental Justice; Chapter 58 Race, Poverty, and Sustainable Communities, Carl Anthony; Chapter 59 Race and Poverty Data as a Tool in the Struggle for Environmental Justice, Kary L. Moss; Chapter 60 Analysis of Racially Disparate Impacts in the Siting of Environmental Hazards, Thomas J. Henderson, David S. Bailey, Selena Mendy Singleton; Chapter 61 The Streets, the Courts, the Legislature, and the Press: Where Environmental Struggles Happen, Rachel Godsil; Chapter 62 The Truth Won't Set You Free (But It Might Make the Evening News): The Use of Demographic Information in Struggles for Environmental Justice in California, Luke W. Cole; Chapter 63 Key Research and Policy Issues Facing Environmental Justice, Bunyan Bryant; Part 6a Race, Poverty, and...; Chapter 64 Race, Poverty, and the Two-Tiered Financial Services System, Robert D. Manning; Chapter 65 Race, Poverty, and Transportation, Rich Stolz; Chapter 66 Race, Poverty, and Corporate Welfare, Greg LeRoy; Chapter 67 Race, Poverty, and the Militarized Welfare State, Bristow Hardin; Chapter 68 Race, Poverty, and the Federal Reserve System, Tom Schlesinger; Chapter 69 Race, Poverty, and Social Security, john a. powell; Chapter 70 Race, Poverty, and Immigration, Arnoldo Garcia; Chapter 71 Race, Poverty, and Globalization, john a. powell, S.P. Udayakumar; Part 7a President Clinton's Initiative on Race; Chapter 72 Notes on the President's Initiative on Race, Chester Hartman; Chapter 73 The Speech President Clinton Should Have Made, Howard Winant; Part 13 Symposium; Chapter 74 Public Education, Policy Initiatives, Paradigm Shift, Raúl Yzaguirre; Chapter 75 Needed: An Educational Bible, Marcus Raskin; Chapter 76 Plessy v. Ferguson Lives, Jonathan Kozol; Chapter 77 Acknowledge, Understand White-Skin Privilege, Julian Bond; Chapter 78 An Action Agenda, Hugh Price; Chapter 79 Focus on the Institutional Barriers, Manning Marable; Chapter 80 Knitting the Nation, S.M. Miller; Chapter 81 A Ten-Point Plan, Peter Dreier; Chapter 82 Needed: A Focus on the Intersection of Race and Poverty, Peter Edelman; Chapter 83 Conversation Is Far from the Central Issue, Howard Zinn; Chapter 84 If Not Action on Race, Then Straight Talk, Herbert J. Gans; Chapter 85 Fantasy Moral Capital, Benjamin DeMott; Chapter 86 Escaping Clinton's Control, Frances Fox Piven; Chapter 87... And Interracial Justice For All, Michael Omi; Chapter 88 First Peoples First, Lillian Wilmore; Chapter 89 Conversation Doesn't Pay the Rent, William L. Taylor; Chapter 90 Spotlight Bigotry's Covert Expression, David K. Shipler; Chapter 91 A Lesson Plan for Thinking and Talking About Race, Theodore M. Shaw; Part 14 Symposium; Chapter 92 Neither Praise Nor Burial, S.M. Miller; Chapter 93 Where Is the Declaration of War?, Bill Ong Hing; Chapter 94 Not a Word of Criticism of Clinton, Clarence Lusane; Chapter 95 No Surprises, Frances Fox Piven; Chapter 96 Native Nations Won't Rally Around One Nation Concept, Lillian Wilmore; Chapter 97 One America Needs To Be More Than a Nice Slogan, Frank H. Wu; Chapter 98 Politainment and an Extended Renaissance Weekend, Marcus Raskin; Chapter 99 One America-To What Ends?, Sam Husseini; Chapter 100 There's No Racial Justice Without Economic Justice, Peter Dreier;