Employing a structural and holistic framework, this volume highlights critical issues in education, health, and employment for the four major U.S. racial and ethnic minorities - African, Hispanic, Asian, and Native Americans - and the challenges they pose to an increasingly racially and culturally diverse society in the 21st century.

A second major objective is to describe the implications of minority group status regarding education, health, and employment for U.S. race relations and for the general health, well-being, and productivity of Americans in the coming century. Twenty-six topics on a broad range of subjects within each of the three primary areas are covered. In all areas, the essential roles of social class and gender are acknowledged.

The contributors to this book include minority and women scholars with varied backgrounds, giving the book a strong multi-disciplinary perspective. It is appropriate for educators, researchers, sociologists, and students of racial and ethnic diversity and stratification, U.S. race relations, as well as practitioners and policymakers.