As racial tensions ravage America's inner cities, Byron M. Roth argues that the time has come to reassess our public policies on race and to rethink the flawed theories that underlie them. In this pathbreaking book, Roth examines the sources of racial conflict and attempts to discover why advances in civil rights for blacks over the past thirty years have not been accompanied by greater harmony between blacks and whites.

Roth's central thesis is that America's policies on race have failed because they have been based on social science theories unsupported by sound evidence. Many of the policies initiated in the 1960s were founded on the premise that discrimination was the greatest barrier to black advancement. Yet this premise, Roth argues, no longer reflects reality, as white attitudes toward blacks have improved, and as the black middle class has grown.

Social scientists, he believes, have failed to communicate to the policy-making community that policies aimed at diminishing white racism can have only a negligible effect on the massive problems of the black underclass.

Roth shows that the growth of this underclass has been fueled by increases in crime, illegitimacy and educational failure - problems which result from failed government programs that have led to the self-destructive patterns of individual behavior now endemic in our inner cities. He argues that the way to ameliorate these problems is with policies that restore order to our streets and to our schools, and that encourage and reward self-reliance, hard work, and stable families.

Roth's analysis touches on a range of issues, including the role of the media in perpetuating common misunderstandings about race, the reluctance of social scientists to report on controversial findings, and the trend toward self-segregation among students on university campuses. Written in a lively, accessible style, this book poses a serious challenge to the status quo - a challenge that must be confronted by everyone who cares about the future of race relations in America.